Chivu: ‘Inter showed character and desire, but we’re short on time’ | OneFootball

Cristian Chivu was pleased with the ‘character and desire’ shown by Inter to beat AS Monaco 2-1 despite being down to 10 men for an hour. ‘We don’t have much time.’

The Nerazzurri had a dismal start to their first real pre-season friendly match, as they were a goal down within 80 seconds, then had Hakan Calhanoglu sent off for a second bookable offence at the 35th minute.

Nonetheless, they were able to turn it around away from home thanks to goals from Lautaro Martinez and Ange-Yoan Bonny for the 2-1 victory.

Chivu saw Inter determination against Monaco

Cristian Chivu Inter press conference during 2025 FIFA Club World Cup in the United States.

“It was an August friendly, our legs still weren’t going the way they should, but it was a good test,” Chivu told Inter TV.

“We don’t have much time, because there are only 17 days until the start of the Serie A season. What I will take from this are the character and desire shown by my players, who were determined to turn it around despite being a man down.

“It is difficult to analyse, because physically we are not yet in shape, but we put some fuel in the tank. Obviously, we are still lacking sharpness, as in the first 20 minutes we wasted some clear-cut scoring opportunities.”

Lautaro Martinez shrugs off Thilo Kehrer during the pre-season friendly between Inter and AS Monaco (@inter)

Chivu was extremely vocal throughout the match, loudly screaming instructions and often criticism towards his players, as he tries to impose his vision after four years of Simone Inzaghi’s tactics.

He was eager to clarify that even if Inter had lost the pre-season friendly, he would have had a similar approach.

“I am not particularly interested in the result, I don’t want to win some summer trophy. What interests me is that the team gains confidence and puts fuel in the tank for what awaits us in future.

“I am the coach of Inter, these are strong players who can always do better in every respect, individual and collective, which is what I try to explain every day in training.”

Because they participated in the FIFA Club World Cup, Inter are rather late when it comes to pre-season friendly matches, so their next tests are against Monza on August 12 and Olympiacos on August 16.