Antonio Conte believes that his side were undeserved losers in their Champions League group stage loss to Spanish giants Barcelona.
“We deserved more from the match and we should have been better at making the most of the opportunities we created, we put a great team like Barcelona in difficulty. In the second half our energy level dropped but this was the sixth game in a few days and some players have played in them all,” he told Sky Sport post-match at the Camp Nou.
He then spoke on referee Damor Skomina, who ignored Inter’s shouts for a penalty and let several apparent fouls from Barcelona players on Inter players go whilst being very quick to react when the roles were reversed.
“I am bitter because I have seen some situations that were not addressed in the right way and I am sorry for that. I am not speaking only about the penalty we weren’t given, but so many other things.
“Skomina warned me that he would send me off if he had to come and speak to me again. Respect is written on their jersey and all I asked for was respect because they must have respect for those who come here to play football and wish to do better than the hosts. Respect must be mutual.
“We are talking about an international level referee, who refereed the last final of the Champions League. I am bitter but I do not want to give an alibi to the players.”
He then returned to speak on his side’s performance.
“We played well and proved that we could put Barcelona in difficulty. This match had to be killed off in the first half but our decreasing energy levels and increasing quality of Barcelona saw us struggle.
“I do not think a defeat is the right result, even if Barcelona do have great players, but we must lick our wounds and get ready for Sunday. It is difficult for me to speak well when you lose, I suffer after a defeat. It was an undeserved defeat but now we have to work to be stronger. We are building a path with these boys, many of them had not played in this competition before. They are to be commended but this defeat must make us suffer.”
He concluded by insisting that the team can’t be happy with how they fared if they are wanting to take the next step toward improving.
“The way we played when in possession was intended to hurt Barcelona. Their goal was to simply keep the ball. At a certain point we no longer had that same lucidity to go out and beat their press but the team gave it their all.
“I am happy with the way the team performed but we lost and we have to understand that we have to improve even more to try not to suffer in the future. We must not go back happy because this is not the mentality that a great team should have. To grow, we must return home angry, because it is not a positive result.”
