De Boer calls on Brozovic to show Inter commitment

Frank de Boer has told Marcelo Brozovic to step up and prove his worth after dropping the Croatia international for Inter’s 2-1 win over Juventus.

The 23-year-old responded angrily after he was withdrawn at half-time in Inter’s shock 2-0 Europa League defeat at the hands of Hapoel Be’er Sheva last week and was consequently left out for the morale-boosting victory over the Serie A champions on Sunday.

Brozovic used Instagram to express his dismay with De Boer’s decision, but the coach has told the midfielder to prove him wrong on the pitch instead.

“Brozovic needs to show he’s a part of this team and work hard,” De Boer said at a news conference.

“I treat all my players equally and I am always ready for a chat.

“I have a good relationship with my players.”

Inter will be looking to make it three Serie A wins in succession when they visit Empoli on Wednesday and De Boer has revealed new signing Gabriel Barbosa could make his debut.

“Gabriel trained Monday for the first time with the squad, he looks OK,” De Boer added. “We will see today, he might get a call-up.

“The match against Empoli will be an important encounter. We have to keep the same attitude we had against Juventus. We always have to work together, as a team. That’s what we saw against Juventus and I want the same against Empoli

“We want to dominate in every game. That’s my philosophy. We did well on Sunday but we can improve even more. We were compact against Juventus. You have to have this mentality to win games.”