Fiorentina vs Inter Milan preview - Leonardo: No room for error

Posted Wednesday, February 16, 2011 by PA

Inter Milan coach Leonardo has warned his players they cannot afford to make any further mistakes if they are to defend the Scudetto.

The Italian champions travel to Tuscany to face Fiorentina trailing eight points behind league leaders AC Milan.

Sunday's 1-0 loss at the hands of Juventus marked Leonardo's second defeat since replacing Rafael Benitez at the helm earlier this year.

The result dropped the Nerazzurri to fourth in the the standings, one point behind Lazio, who are third.

"We are not in a condition to make mistakes," Leonardo said. "Not just in this game but in all of our remaining matches."

The match in Florence was originally due to be played last December, but was postponed due to Inter's victorious challenge at the FIFA Club World Cup.

Inter have won just two of their last seven games away from home but Leonardo believes his team will get back to winning ways in Florence.

"We have to win and play well, this is what the team has to do," he said.

"I don't think the players are tired or that there are any problems.

"We played on Sunday and we lost. That's the end of it.

"I don't believe my team has a problem playing away from home.

"In any case, we have to always impose our play regardless of where we play."

Fiorentina, meanwhile, remain unbeaten at the Artemio Franchi Stadium since October 3.

The Viola appear to have left a difficult stretch behind them.

They have collected seven points from a possible nine in their last three games and their positive run have seen them climb to 10th in the standings, 12 points behind Inter.

Fiorentina coach Sinisa Mihajlovic breathed a sigh of relief as last weekend's 4-2 triumph at Palermo was his team's first win on their travels this season.

The game also saw striker Alberto Gilardino end his goalscoring drought.

The Italy international had not scored since January 23.

"This was an important win for us," Mihajlovic said. "I don't know if this victory will mark a turning point in our season but the team showed an improvement.

"Now we must take it a game at a time.

"We face a difficult match against Inter but we are determined to win."

Mihajlovic is set to name an unchanged team against Inter.

Inter will be without defender Thiago Motta, who is suspended.