Italian giants Inter Milan in Singapore for International Champions Cup
SINGAPORE — Serie A giants Inter Milan were the first team to arrive for the weekend’s International Champions Cup (ICC) pre-season tournament, as they checked into JW Marriott Hotel on Wednesday morning (17 July).
Greeted by the hotel staff at the entrance, the players and staff were then escorted without much fanfare into the hotel check-in area. A few players stopped to sign autographs for a handful of fans waiting at the lobby.
Inter will face English giants Manchester United at the National Stadium on Saturday, before flying off to Nanjing to face Serie A champions Juventus on 24 July.
Juventus will also be in Singapore for the ICC. They will face another top English side, Champions League finalists Tottenham Hotspur, on Sunday.
Inter finished fourth in Serie A last season, 21 points behind Juventus. After the season ended, they parted ways with manager Luciano Spalletti, and hired former Chelsea manager Antonio Conte.
Conte, who led the Blues to the 2016/17 English Premier League title, will be tasked with returning Inter to the top of the Serie A, a feat they last achieved in 2010 under Conte’s nemesis, Jose Mourinho.
“A new chapter in my life is beginning, I’m really excited,” he said on Inter’s official website. “I’ll try to repay all of the trust that the president and directors have placed in me.
“I have chosen Inter because of the club it is, because of the project’s sound basis and how ambitious it is. I was struck by the club’s desire to bring Inter back to where it belongs.”
Conte has brought in veteran Uruguayan central defender Diego Godin via a free transfer from Atletico Madrid. More controversially, he has left Mauro Icardi – Inter’s captain and main striker – out of the squad for this Asia pre-season tour.
Coincidentally, the player he is eyeing to replace Icardi will be on the opposite side on Saturday – Man United’s Romelu Lukaku.
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