The Italian coach, Simone Inzaghi, the Saudi Crescent coach, saw that “Arab football is in constant development”, praising the local players after a tie with Real Madrid 1-1 Wednesday at the “Hard Rock” stadium in the Group Eighth FIFA World Cup competitions.
Inzaghi presented his credentials quickly in the first official appearance with Al -Hilal after he came from Inter, a tie over Real Madrid, who was close to winning the last minutes had it not been for Moroccan goalkeeper Yassin Bono to a penalty kick by Uruguayan Federico Valverde in the 90+2 minute.
Inzaghi talked at the press conference about his surprise at the performance of the local players, saying, “I am very happy with the Arab players, with the Saudi players: Salem (Al -Dossary), (Hassan) Al -Tamakti, and Nasser (Al -Dossary). They are very good players. These three knew only 3 days ago that they will play today, and what really surprised me this desire for the other five who participated tonight.”
“All of them had the right spirit, and we needed each of them. I got an excellent reaction from the Arab players.”
“Arab football improves year after year. The infrastructure that is being built, the current organization is currently, all of this is amazing. I found a wonderful club, and they meet everything I requested at the organizational level and with the (technical) crew. The organization has excellent, and Arab football is in constant development,” Enzagi, 49, who is in his first experience outside Italy, said after he trained Lazio and Inter.
“It was a good match. As for my team, I think the squad was excellent. I think we organized the match well and we performed well against Real Madrid, which is one of the strongest teams in the world. So I am happy. I cannot ask more than that.”
The Italian coach indicated that the case of Serbian striker Alexander Metrovic will reside in the coming days to see if he is able to participate with the team in the next confrontation against Austrian Salzburg.
Inzaghi considered that his team “is in two hands” in the presence of goalkeeper Puno, adding, “It always gives us a feeling of comfort. Throughout my years as a coach, I was always lucky with excellent goalkeepers, and Bono is a really great goalkeeper.”