Luciano Spalletti Confirms Double Injury Blow to Inter Pair Ahead of Genoa Trip

Inter will be without two of their key players for the trip to Genoa in Serie A on Saturday evening.

Ivan Perisic and Mauro Icardi were both ruled out for the Nerazzurri, for whom this is a crucial game as the race for Champions League places hots up.

"Icardi and Perisic are players we always want to have in the group," manager Luciano Spalletti told a press conference, quoted by ESPN.

"We did some tests but they hadn't recovered enough in training to feature in a match with the tempo of Genoa-Inter."

Croatian winger Perisic, a target for Manchester United last year, will miss the trip to the Riviera with a shoulder injury. His absence will end his record of appearing in every minute of every league match for Inter this season.

Club captain Icardi had also appeared in every Serie A game this season but has missed Inter's last two matches with a muscular injury. The Argentinean joined from Sampdoria in 2011 and has made 170 appearances for the club since then, scoring 96 goals in that time.

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Inter's top scorer is a summer target for both Bayern Munich and Manchester United, according to reports.

Inter currently sit third in Serie A but are 15 points behind leaders Napoli and 14 behind reigning champions Juventus. Roma and Lazio could both leapfrog Spalletti's men this weekend if results go against them.

The Nerazzurri were still in title contention at the start of December, but they subsequently went on a run of eight games without victory. Last Sunday's win over Bologna was their first of 2018.