Inter Striker Crespo Defends Ibrahimovic And Warns Balotelli

Inter striker Hernan Crespo has not managed to find much playing time this season under coach Jose Mourinho.

He's scored only two goals in Serie A, the second coming in last week's match at Chievo, as the Argentine striker has fallen behind Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Mario Balotelli, Adriano when he was still at the club, and even Julio Cruz in the team's pecking order up front.




The 33-year-old looked certain to leave the club, but recently he revealed in an interview that he is settled at Inter and would not mind staying on to keep his role as a supersub. He also gave some advice to his team-mates Balotelli and Ibrahimovic.

"Mario has to grow up in many ways," Crespo told Tuttosport. "He has everything to be a great champion, but it's not enough to play well, you have to behave on and off the pitch, be a professional 100 per cent, and have respect for your team-mates and opponents.

"I understand that he is young and has time to learn, but it depends on him what type of career he wants to have. The only advice I can give him is that a footballer's career is like a marathon, and it's not that he knows everything because he is 18 and plays with Inter."

He then went on to talk about the recent whistles aimed at Ibrahimovic by the fans during the match against Lazio, and his subsequent reaction.

"At the basis of everything there should be respect, then everyone has their personality," 'Valdanito' continued. "There is a certain exasperation in football, an aggressiveness that isn't part of sporting culture.

"If I go to the cinema and I'm watching a Robert De Niro movie I don't like, I stand up and leave, without insulting or throwing popcorn at the screen. Imagine what it's like to be whistled all the time while you're working: it's horrible.

"The basic problem is that everything is justified on the basis of how much a player makes: a player doesn't have a right to cry, to be sad, to play badly or to have problems...

"We have to remember that this is a sport where one team wins and all the others lose: my gratification is to play in big stadiums and for this reason there isn't much to explain if, after scoring more than 300 goals in my career, I play against Chievo, I score and celebrate like a madman."