Chievo focuses on the positives after Inter's loss to Real Madrid, and Sabitzer takes a break from the Austrian national team

Romanian Inter Milan coach Christian Chievo stressed the need for his team to overcome the loss to Real Madrid in the Champions League, to continue its winning streak in the Italian League when facing Udinese, on Monday.

Inter Milan lost to Real Madrid with a score of 1-2 last week in the Champions League, making the team suffer the bitterness of loss for the first time this season, but Chievo praised the performance of its players against the Spanish giant.

Chievo said in statements reported by the British news agency (PA Media): “Assessing the team based on losing a match is premature, because we are still at the beginning of the season, and our goal is to continue improving performance.”

He added: “If we judge based only on the results, we will be exposed to many criticisms, but we do not focus on the result only, but rather the positive aspects, and what we want to consolidate in the team’s mentality so that we do not lose confidence in the positives that we came out of the Napoli and Real Madrid matches.”

He continued: “I see that there is a connection between the two matches, because we made a double effort to overturn the result against Napoli, and only 72 hours later we faced Real Madrid at the Bernabeu.”

Christian Chievo concluded his statements: “I admire the players’ character, their courage, and the team’s reaction after making mistakes. I will focus on the positives to move in the direction we want.”

The Austrian Football Association announced on Sunday that midfielder Marcel Sabitzer will take a break from playing with the national team and will not participate in the group stage matches of the European Nations League this year.

Sabitzer (32 years old), who plays for Borussia Dortmund and scored 27 goals in 102 matches with his country’s national team, will re-evaluate his future before the start of the 2028 European Championship qualifiers next March.

Sabitzer said in a statement issued by the Austrian Federation: “The past two years have witnessed very intense activity. “Since Euro 2024, I have actually played three seasons because of the Club World Cup and the World Cup.”

He added: “This season is also busy with participation in the German League, the German Cup and the European Champions League. “I am 32 years old and I still want to play football at the highest level for many more years and I have to manage my energy carefully.”

He continued: “So I agreed with the coach, in frank and trust-based discussions, that I would take a break now, and that we would discuss at the beginning of next year whether I would return to the national team to participate in the European Championship qualifiers.”

Coach Ralf Rangnick said, in the same statement, that it was unfortunate that he had to let go of Sabitzer, but that he understood the reasons for his decision.

He explained: “We will make a joint decision in due course before the start of the 2028 European Championship qualifiers on how to move forward. Anyway, I'm glad Marcel will be available again basically if we need him. “This shows me how important the national team is still to him.”

On Monday, Rangnick will announce his team's lineup for the Nations League matches that will be held at home against Israel in Linz on September 24 and against Kosovo in Vienna on September 29.

On October 1, Austria will face Ireland in Dublin and Kosovo four days later in Pristina.

Malaga tied in the final minutes with its host Celta Vigo, 1-1, on Sunday, in the fifth round of the Spanish Football League.

Celta Vigo raised its score to 4 points in 14th place, one point behind Levante in 13th place, and 3 points behind Osasuna in twelfth place.

On the other hand, Malaga raised its score to 3 points in seventeenth place, one point behind Rayo Vallecano, which is in sixteenth place.

Celta Vigo took the lead through Ferran Gotelga in the 14th minute, while Malaga equalized through Adrian Ninho in the 83rd minute.