Inter Milan full-back Achraf Hakimi has urged his teammates to maintain focus ahead of their Serie A trip to Napoli on Sunday. Antonio Conte’s title-elect Nerazzurri will trade tackles with Gennaro Gattuso’s warriors at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona in the closing fixture of Serie A Matchday 31.
Coming into this encounter, Inter have racked up an intimidating 11-match winning run in Serie A, including a hard-fought 1-0 triumph against relegation-threatened Cagliari last time out. As a result, they are currently 11 points clear of closest chasers AC Milan, with just eight league games left to play.
Hakimi, who has been in supreme form since arriving from Real Madrid last summer, believes there is no room for complacency at the Giuseppe Meazza heading into the business end of the season.
Inter forked out €40million to sign the 22-year-old offensive-minded right-back last summer. Given the Morocco international’s maiden Serie A season, it’s been money well spent.
Hakimi has amassed six goals and as many assists in 29 league outings this season en route to becoming one of the best full-backs in the Italian top division.
Even though the Nerazzurri hold a comfortable-looking lead on cross-town rivals, the former Borussia Dortmund star is desperate for his teammates to keep their feet on the ground.
“Many think it’s over because of the advantage we’ve built up over the others, but we’re not thinking in this way. There are still several matches to go, and we need to take it game by game,” Hakimi said, as quoted by the club’s official website.
“We’re now focused on our next fixture against Napoli on Sunday. In the matches that remain, we’ll need to be at our best. It isn’t over yet, we need to see how things progress before any doubts are removed.“
Asked to pinpoint the season-defining moment for Inter, Hakimi singled out the Champions League elimination as a turning point in his side’s Serie A title charge.
“When the season began, I think we had certain objectives relating to the league and the Champions League in particular: we were aiming to progress from the group stage.
“What happened in the Champions League was a big blow, but we started focusing even more on Serie A. This is an important objective and one which Inter haven’t achieved in several years. We’ve gone on a great run and need to continue in this fashion.“