International Champions Cup Preview: Juventus v Inter

Juventus manager Antonio Conte wants “more hunger” from his side ahead of their International Champions Cup clash against Inter on Tuesday.

The all-Serie A tie will see the teams do battle to avoid finishing bottom of the pile as they target their first win in the competition.

The Italian champions started with a defeat against Everton, losing 6-5 on penalties, before going down 3-1 against LA Galaxy.

However, Conte has urged his charges to up their game in Tuesday’s fixture and warned against complacency in the wake of winning back-to-back league crowns.

“We need to show more hunger,” he told the club’s official website.

“(Gianluigi) Buffon made an important point saying he fears a possible indulgence after two consecutive championship successes and you just need to look at the goals we conceded (against Galaxy) to realise the danger is there.”

Juventus are in competitive action on August 18 in the Italian Super Cup against Lazio and Conte sees the Inter match as crucial preparation.

“We must increase our concentration levels,” he added. “We haven’t won a game since we’ve been here, it’s now time to change that.”

For Inter, the situation is much the same, after they suffered defeats against Chelsea and Valencia.

However, manager Walter Mazzarri refused to criticise his players following their 4-0 defeat to the Spanish side, claiming his players were lacking in fitness ahead of the game.

The only grievance for the former Napoli boss was the comprehensive nature of the scoreline.

“You could see Valencia were much fresher,” he told Inter’s official website. “And then you have to consider that they played their last match on July 27, while ours was three days ago.

“Right now I favour hard work and I’m looking ahead. A defeat was something we knew was always a possibility, but perhaps we could have kept the scoreline down a bit since you never like losing by that many goals.”

Mazzarri, who is taking charge of his first pre-season at Inter, also wants the defeats to serve as motivation against Juventus.

“It’s something I’ve expected from my first day here, that Inter would become competitive again,” he continued.

“We need to try and give everything, playing in a convincing way. In terms of doing things automatically we’re improving. It’s certainly not easy for a new coach to start from scratch.”