Inter Milan first to arrive for International Champions Cup Singapore
The stars of Inter Milan made football fan Amanpreet Singh's day as they stopped to sign autographs despite having just arrived in Singapore after a long flight yesterday.
The Nerazzurri are the first team to land here for the Singapore leg of the International Champions Cup (ICC) at the National Stadium this weekend.
Singh was among 20 fans who waited for the Italian giants at the JW Marriott Hotel Singapore South Beach yesterday morning.
The Singapore University of Social Sciences student, 23, did not expect the likes of Ivan Perisic, Milan Skriniar and Andrea Ranocchia to sign in his scrapbook, which consists of pictures of the same players in action.
"The main guys like Radja Nainggolan and Perisic stopped for us. They were here for a good three minutes after a 13-hour flight. That's amazing," he said.
Inter will face Manchester United on Saturday, while Tottenham Hotspur will play Juventus on Sunday.
Alighting from a bus that had "Inter Summer Tour 2019" on it, Inter's newly appointed coach Antonio Conte donned black shades and a blue polo tee.
The Italian was also in Singapore for the ICC two years ago, when he was Chelsea manager. Inter were also here that year, along with Bayern Munich.
While most of the players and staff headed straight to their rooms to drop their luggage after the flight from Switzerland, prominent players like Nainggolan, who was most striking with an iridescent Louis Vuitton backpack, stopped to take photos and sign autographs.
Just 10 minutes later, the squad returned to the bus as they headed for a closed-door training session at Choa Chu Kang Stadium.
Midfielder Antonio Candreva was the last to board, with Conte nudging him to hurry up with the autograph-signing.
Inter are without key striker Mauro Icardi, as he had left their training camp earlier. Nonetheless, Singh, an Arsenal fan, was overjoyed to meet the Inter players, especially Perisic.
"I've been a fan of him since he used to play for Wolfsburg, and he also did well in the World Cup and scored a lot of important goals last year... so I'm buzzing," he said.
He also managed to snap a picture with Inter's retired goalkeeper Julio Cesar, who is now an ambassador with the club.
Get The New Paper on your phone with the free TNP app. Download from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store now