Football
Ben Gladwell, Italy correspondent 9y

Lukas Podolski 'must do more' at Inter Milan, says Roberto Mancini

Roberto Mancini's patience in Lukas Podolski is running out after the German forward once again failed to impress on Sunday.

Podolski, who is on loan at the Nerazzurri from Arsenal until the end of the season, has yet to open his account for the Serie A club and, after making a promising debut against Juventus in January, he appears to be losing his way recently.

Some of Inter's fans have started to criticise the Germany international and now Mancini has warned Podolski, 29, that he expects more from him.

"Podolski must do more," Mancini said. "What he's doing is not enough and he's the first to recognise that."

Podolski was withdrawn to a significant amount of boos at the San Siro on Sunday evening as Inter lost 1-0 at home to Fiorentina. Xherdan Shaqiri, who took his place, nearly succeeded in getting Inter back into the game.

"Given the way he played when he came on, then yes [it was a mistake to leave him out to start with]," Mancini told Sky Sport Italia.

"Shaqiri did well and I wanted to rest him because he played on Thursday, but when he came on he changed the game. We had chances to level and if we'd taken them, I think we could have gone on to win."

Instead, defeat leaves Inter 10 points behind third-placed Napoli and their objective of a place in the Champions League next season -- a goal they could also reach by winning the Europa League.

"Right now, we're not prioritising one over the other as we don't want to choose between them," he said. "If we see that in a couple of game's time Napoli are too far away, then we'll reassess our objectives."

Inter face Wolfsburg in the last 16 of the Europa League with the Bundesliga form team arriving at the San Siro for the decisive second leg on March 19, seven days after the first leg in Germany.

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