A fundamental victory for Inter, winning three important points in a particularly difficult away game, considering the form of Marco Giampaolo’s Empoli. On Stadio Carlo Castellani Mauro Icardi scored the winning goal on great assist from the left by Ivan Perisic. Now the standing sees the Nerazzurri still in the lead, despite the victories of Juventus and Fiorentina (respectively victorious against Verona and Palermo). At the end of the match, as usual, Inter’s coach Roberto Mancini went to the press room to analyze the match that just finished.
The team dropped a little in the end: why?
“Empoli played well, created difficulties for us both in the beginning and the end. I think it’s a normal too drop a little.”
After the attempt in the summer, has Eder returned to be a target on the transfer market?
“I don’t think Sampdoria will sell him, in January its not easy to operate on the transfer market.”
Why did you decide to place Ljajic in the middle as a central attacker at the end of the match?
“It was important to win again after Lazio, now we started again on a very difficult pitch. We knew a lot of concentration would be needed to win. Ljajic, therefore, was placed in the middle because we suffered a bit when Empoli started their plays.”
Is 1-0 your ‘trademark’?
“What counts is to win, but 1-0 brings suffering until the end. But our defense holds up well, we have conceded few goals so the big credit goes to the team.”
Are you the favorites for the Scudetto? Can 82 points be enough to win the championship?
“Winning the ‘winter title’ has relative importance. 82 points could be enough, but I don’t know. It would surely bring us to Champions League.”
An opinion on the performance of Empoli.
“They play well and they are in a very positive moment. They caused difficulties, but then we took measures. We improved and then we also had the opportunity to make it 2-0.”
Source: fcinternews.it
