Inter Milan vs Chievo preview - Zanetti: Lille win was important

Inter Milan captain Javier Zanetti expects his team's midweek triumph at Lille to be a turning point in their season.

The Nerazzurri won 1-0 in France in the Champions League on Tuesday, and head into Sunday's match against Chievo knowing a defeat could see them fall into the Serie A relegation zone.

"We must win on Sunday and change the negative trend at the San Siro," Zanetti told www.inter.it.

"Our performance at Lille was important. We won and we also displayed a lot of character and determination."

Inter are level on four points with 18th-placed Bologna after last weekend's 2-1 defeat at Catania and have lost four of their six games in Serie A.

"We are not looking at the standings right now," Zanetti said. "We are just taking one game at a time.

"It's normal that we have been criticised for our slow start to the season considering we have been winning for the last seven years, but this is part of football."

Inter have the worst backline in the competition, shipping 13 goals so far, while Chievo have conceded just once in their last four league games.

The men from Verona travel to the San Siro on the back of last weekend's goalless draw against Serie A leaders Juventus.

The result extended Chievo's unbeaten run to four games and lifted the Flying Donkeys to seventh in the standings, five points clear of Inter.

"We did a good job against Juventus and that is a positive sign," Chievo coach Domenico Di Carlo said.

"We face a difficult game at Inter but we will do the best we can to bring home a good result."