Inter coach Luciano Spalletti spoke to Italian broadcaster Rai Sport after the defeat away at the Camp Nou in the group stage of the Champions League against Barcelona.
Spalletti began by giving a general analysis of the game: “We entered the game a bit with the breaks on and a bit hesitant, we gave Barcelona too much space and when we recovered the ball, we did not do that in a clean way in order to get the final possession. They put a lot of pressure on us, able to see our weaknesses in the dribble phase. I thought we would make something better of the prize we won last season, tonight I saw a team that lacked a lot of personality.”
Were you surprised that Rafinha started the game?
“I was pleased to see him play again, he had a good match. But their way of playing did not change, besides the fact that with Rafinha on the pitch instead of Dembelé Barcelona played with less depth and more dribbling.”
One negative aspect of modern defending is watching the ball too much, can you say that about Skriniar on Barcelona’s 1-0?
“No, it is the negative aspect of old school footballers to watch the attacker too much, thereby losing too much sight of the ball.”
So Skriniar did not make a mistake?
“Well, you can always make a mistake. But we have to play like this, we have to cover the space and then react to the opponent player.”
You said that Inter had to focus on the possession play, but the team did not manage to keep the ball. Is that the game right there?
“Yes, absolutely right. As soon as we recovered the ball we did not manage to keep possession for a longer period of time. We never put them under pressure, therefore we were left to chasing the ball thereby spending a lot of energy.”
Inter played a day later compared to Barcelona?
“Our complications in this game came from the fact that we have many players unavailable, especially in midfield. Nainggolan is injured and there also the restrictions from UEFA that hurt us. Some of our resources could have been better managed, they made us run and lose a lot of energy. We played far from their goal with a lot of errors, they were stronger than us and deserved to win tonight.”
