After the convincing 3-0 win against Lazio in the Serie A at a rainy Stadio Olimpico in Rome, Inter coach Luciano Spalletti stopped by Italian broadcaster Sky Sport Italia to share his thoughts on his teams performance.

Are you the anti-Juventus after tonight?

“What is fundamental is always the performance of the guys playing here. We have to be anti-us, we have the capacity to control games like we did today in the first half. But already in the second half we are back being the anti-nobody. Tonight we lost too many balls and this means that we gave Lazio the opportunity to create some problems for us. In those situations I can see where there is still some work to do.”

You surprised all of us by choosing Joao Mario and did you decide to leave out Stefan De Vrij due to the fact that the game was at Olimpico?

“You are right about De Vrij, for me there was no need to let him play today with a stadium booing and whistling him. After two missed balls he might have ended up in a negative mental state. As for Joao Mario, I have a lot of players available to me and I have many choices to choose from. To me, Borja Valero was the best player when we played Barcelona, but he got punished when the team failed to have possession on Barcelona’s half which made him throw away a lot of runs. I have to but the best players on the field when it comes to physical form.”

Did you like Joao Mario’s performance tonight?

“In my opinion he did very well in the first half, in the second half he got tired as the minutes passed and made a couple of mistakes too much. But the original plan was to replace him with Borja Valero as soon as we were a bit into the game.”

Today you played great.

“So after one good half we went from a poorly playing team to a great playing team? And this in only one week? What change of scenario, do I have to remind you what you said a week ago? Football is consistent, you can not have a first half like we had tonight without having been on the right path for quite some time now. Today we played a good game.”

Joao Mario’s position kind of liberated Brozovic who had a great game today.

“Miranda and Skriniar moved the ball around well today together with the fullbacks, which helped Brozovic’s play with the fullbacks. Lazio closed the space with their attackers, the key is to minimize the offensive runs available to a strong team like Lazio.”

Is Inter stronger compared to a year ago and is Brozovic the key player?

“I agree, it seems like he has found his way of moving on the pitch, he has a lot of football in his feet and he knows football. Maybe he has too many ball touches sometimes due to him being used to play in other roles, while the deep-lying midfielder has to move the ball around without even touching it, making it hard for the opponent’s attackers. Now that he is getting used to play in that position he is becoming an important player since he is a strong player.”

After Inter vs Parma, could you have imagined being where you are now?

“When you come to play for Inter, or you have good results or you end up in the table where the team has ended up during the last couple of years, you have to perform well. This is something the President has been very clear about, and he has ambitions, so have the players. Then we will see if this brings home good result or not.”

Sometimes you see enemies…

“This is your opinion, I say what I think based on what I am being told. In the second half we lost ball possession 15 times, we have to be on Lazio’s defensive line, if we always give back possession this means that they are always in attack. This does not mean that I want to create a controversy, it is just my position.”