Pressing Questions #10 - Lina Magull: Internazionale

Season 2 of Pressing Questions starts off with Inter's Lina Magull and her start to life in Italy.

Internazionale’s rise in Serie A Femminile has been gradual. While their league position isn’t reflective of the form of success, their squad assembly has been an indication of their commitment to challenging the established top teams of the league. So far, Juventus have dominated Serie A Women for the past few years, having won 5 consecutive titles, but Roma have just recently broken that dominance by winning this season’s title, and it was done despite the concerted efforts of the two Milan clubs: AC and Internazionale. Both of these clubs have rapidly improved as the Serie A is now becoming a much more competitive league, with its growth expected to improve gradually, at least according to some experts.

This growth has coincided with Inter becoming a particularly attractive proposition to players, with their good facilities and a squad that, despite being underrated, is poised to challenge for a top-three position in Italy. They’ve slowly assembled a set of excellent players with a view of challenging the likes of Juve and Roma — Annamaria Serturini, Hayley Bujega, and Henrietta Csiszár just to name a few. A reward for their immense off-field work over the last year or two was attracting a player of immeasurable quality and one that, to be frank, a few years ago you wouldn’t have thought would be joining Inter any time soon, and yet here we are. 

Lina Magull moved from Bayern Munich to Inter in January 2024 and fast forward to today, she has settled into Italian football with aplomb, contributing 9 goals and 4 assists in 14 Serie A matches.

In an exclusive one-on-one interview, I sat with Magull and discussed her first taste of Italian football and how she’s adapted and tailored her game to Inter.

In your own words — what’s your best role and position?

So, first of all, of course, [my main position] is a central midfielder. That's the most [common] role I’ve had over my whole career. I also tried different positions, but over the last few years, I mainly played between the number 8 and number 10 positions. 

So I’m not a player who focuses on defence first, but more to create, always trying to be free and find space, being there for my teammates and being in good positions where I can always get the ball. 

As a No. 8 I always [look] to be involved in the game. That's what I like the most, being central and not playing [in the wider] areas of the pitch. Being central and more so, kind of a box-to-box player, but more on the offensive part and push up.

So having said that, historically, we've seen that you play in that No. 10 position but more like a No. 8… where do you like playing more? Is it where you receive the ball more or do you like taking the ball in higher positions?

I think it depends on the game. So if the opposition is in a deeper position, then I like to be more in the 10 position. I’m quite good at finding the small spaces. If the opponent is pressing pretty high, it's more important to get closer to get the ball in the bigger spaces, because when the opposition's making the field very, very big, you have more spaces to try and find. 

So for me, it's more interesting to be more involved in the attack, but sometimes it's good when you get into a rotation in midfield with the other players, where you're just trying to confuse the opponents. You switch [positions] and get more of the ball. Sometimes it feels like if you're [the] number 10 it takes a long time to get on the ball, so you drop [to receive] to get some touches. I like trying to be more creative in midfield to create space and confuse the opponent.

You've been playing for Inter for a few months now, I’d love to know what is your understanding and concept of the Inter system that you're playing in, and how much have you maybe had to adapt your game to the system?

When we’re trying to build up, we play in the 4-2-3-1 formation and [out of possession] we are in a 4-4-2 trying to defend man for man or we play in a deeper block. This has been an adaptation [for me] because I was used to [being in a different] system. We used to defend the space more with the press being very intense. Here we are trying to be on the player straightaway. It starts from the strikers that you're trying to be very intense [in the press]. But the difference here is there are more interceptions, you know, the game is sometimes more open, and you have the challenge to always go back into your [out of possession] structure because then you have a lot of transitions so you have less time to go back into your structure.

So you talked about transitions there, I think we've even seen that the Italian league is a little bit more transitional than ever before, because a lot of the teams are starting to match up to each other — there's Inter, Milan, Roma, and Juventus all competing which makes it a lot more competitive. 

So, do you see that as a reason why it's finally becoming more transitional? And how much have you had to adapt to that?

It's interesting to come into a new environment trying to adapt to a new system very quickly because the change was very quick, but I agree it was a big difference than I was used to playing for Munich because like you were saying we dominated a lot, we had a lot more possession but here I think we have a lot of ball possession too.

I think we have improved over the last few games with our playing style by having more possession, of course, it depends on the type of opposition, but at the start when we played against Roma and Juve, I felt like they had more ball possession but [lately] we’ve improved a lot and we are [starting] to challenge them at a similar level. Roma and Juve are at the moment the better team with higher quality but in the last year, we’ve improved a lot which is good to see. Inter has the opportunity to challenge them at the same level. It just depends on the quality in the final third and how you take your chances.

I don’t think it's a surprise for one to think that attracting someone of your level was big. When we started going over the Inter squad, we realised that there are some really good players on the team with you.

Now that you’ve trained with the squad, who amongst them has surprised you?

To be fair, when I joined, I didn't know so many players but it was nice to come and see the quality level. The players have improved over the last month or so, but it’s been Elisa Polli for me. She surprised me a lot because she came off a long injury and starting to see her style of play with her playing time was great. I think she’s good at keeping the ball and her technical ability. She has a good feeling of our situation and understands the game when she’s dribbling towards goal, knowing when she needs to shoot or pass.

Also, the players have a high quality. I think it comes down to the confidence you have in your quality. Some players are not the big names but I don't think they need to hide. It’s interesting to see that there is a lot of potential in the [squad].

You’ve played with numerous central midfielders in your career and even here [at Inter], you’ve got a few good ones around you. How have you developed that chemistry with your midfield partners?

No, of course, this is a process to get into the best connection with each other. Most of the time I play with Henrietta Csiszár and Marija [Milinković]. These kinds of players carry out most of the defensive work but also contribute in build-up. It’s nice to have them behind me to save my back when I’m trying to attack if I lose the ball. I think it’s getting better with the connection and we all understand the style and how we want to play a better way. Now we’re trying to get more into dealing with having more possession. I’m also a player who is used to and likes to have the ball instead of running after the ball.

You’ve always been a positive dribbling and passing ball progressor throughout your career. What’s your thought process behind how to look for space in the pockets and half-spaces and what’s your train of thought of your decision-making when you’re in the final third?

In the best-case scenario: nothing! (Haha). I mean you just trust your intuition and ability and all of the work you’ve put in over the years. For me, it's just to have the shoulder view and scan what is around you. When you get the ball, you can make decisions quicker if you’ve already scanned the pitch. You see [Lionel] Messi, [Toni] Kroos, the big players where they always try and scan and have more time to think about the next step.

Sometimes, of course, I just have a feeling and decide to make the pass or shoot. However, this is still an area I need to improve and have better decision-making in the final third. Sometimes I forget to shoot! When you’re in a good position to score it is important to use that chance but I am always a player that was searching for a better-positioned teammate. You need to just train enough in these situations and [practice] shooting. I try to shoot in training from different positions and angles [to improve]. Even in the pre-match technical meetings to see and analyse opponents or look back at my own games to improve, I see where I can improve here. I keep reminding myself to shoot more. Even the coach tells me to shoot more!

In decision-making, even the players around you have a feeling for that too. They give you feedback on whether you should have shot or passed [the ball]. This influences your decision-making [as well] so it's a mix of everything but the best idea for me is to always trust my intuition.