Inter coach Luciano Spalletti was obviously disappointed when he talked to Sky Sports after the final whistle of tonight’s game against PSV Eindhoven.
“We did not manage to remain calm even though everything was still possible and we got nervous by losing a few too many balls due to some tactical disorder. They counter attacked a lot, something that increased the tension and nervousness and these are things that make you lose focus on the game. We suffered too many counter attacks, counter attacks that did not cause us too much damage but it was how we wanted to manage the game when we set up the game plan.
“Staying mentally balanced was everything, it was kept in balance by not playing a frantic game but we still conceded a goal and went behind. How do you keep everyone calm when knowing the result in such an important game [Barcelona vs Tottenham]? The crowd knew it and you could hear the roars on the pitch. UEFA asked me if they should display the Barcelona-Tottenham result on the board and I said yes because it is right to know what happens at the same time. Only like that can you get the strength to do what you have to do.”
He then went on to speak about Mauro Icardi.
“It is not enough with only one player being able to do those plays. You play football as a team where you move the ball around on your terms, not your opponent’s. The individual performances make the difference, but they do that in a team context. Mauro often came up against the ball and by doing that he created superiority in the middle of the pitch and from there we could restart our attack. He also scored and it was the entire team that gave him the strength. We ended up with the same amount of points as Tottenham, but we should have done better in this game. We were too affected by the tension surrounding this game.”
He concluded by sharing his feelings on being knocked out.
“The disappointment is great for whoever goes out. I would have liked to have seen all the Italian teams going to the knock-out stage.”
