Milito: Cassano will shine in Milan derby
Inter Milan striker Diego Milito does not expect jeers by AC Milan fans to have any effect on team-mate Antonio Cassano, following the Italian's defection over the summer.
By ESPNSTAR.com staff
In a sensational summer, Milan sanctioned the sales of star players Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Thiago Silva leaving Cassano disgruntled and unhappy. After submitting a transfer request, he joined crosstown rivals Inter near the end of the transfer window with Giampaolo Pazzini going the other way in a cash plus player exchange deal.
Towards the earlier part of this career, the Italian was a poster boy for the selfishness of footballers during his time with Roma, Real Madrid and Sampdoria but after moving to Milan in 2011, he seemed to have settled and curbed his volatile tendencies. Moreover, the club had also helped him when a debilitating ischema ruled him out of football for months at a stretch last season.
Nevertheless, Cassano was not happy at the lack of first-team action promised to him at the club and decried their perceived lack of ambition in the transfer market over the summer.
His actions are thus guaranteed to earn him the ire of rival fans in the season's first Milan derby on Sunday but Milito believes that this would only influence the controversial striker to try and prove his critics wrong during the game.
"A hostile reaction will not be a problem [for Cassano]," Milito told La Gazzetta dello Sport. "On the contrary, they'll be paying him a great favour."
"He just gets fired up under such conditions. If he's feeling any nerves, he's certainly hiding it very well, joking and smiling during training, just being himself.
"He just has too much experience to be troubled with situations such as these."
Cassano has already scored four goals for the Nerazzurri and has formed a strong partnership with the Argentinean striker. And Milito expects the duo to get even better over the season as they become comfortable with one another's playing style.
"Cassano sees the game like no other. He can smash open any game. In fact, he enjoys making assists even more than scoring goals.
"Making the right run by watching him when he has the ball is the secret to playing with him.
"We are getting to know each other even better with time, even if that was never in question."