Inter coach Antonio Conte spoke to Italian media outlet Sky Sports following his team’s 2-1 defeat to Juventus, their first league defeat of the season.
First the 50-year-old Italian discussed the injury to midfielder Stefano Sensi and how it changed the game.
“We paid for Sensi’s injury the moment he left the pitch because we lost the line; then we didn’t start the second half well even though the match was even, and we could have scored like them.”
“They scored, they showed all their heavy artillery and experience in managing the match. I have nothing to say to the guys, who really gave everything. But we, unlike them, have a long way to go in terms of management and experience.”
“In this aspect we must grow, and it couldn’t be any other way. I’m proud of the commitment, the game was balanced: we could have scored just like them. We had a chance to draw, but they put their experience and international caliber to good use. Well done, we’ll roll up our sleeves and continue to work.”
Conte then discussed the importance of losing to Juventus.
“It’s an important game, against a very strong team. As a coach I’ve always lost against Juve, it happened to me with Arezzo, Atalanta and now with Inter. But they’re a great team, I’m disappointed I lost but congratulations to them.”
The former Juventus and Chelsea coach then touched on what the Nerazzurri needs to do to improve.
“Surely, we could play much better, as in Barcelona. But I repeat that this is a path of growth with guys who work a lot at an experienced level and for all situations. But we need to do it again, there are no shortcuts. We can’t compare ourselves to Juve, they’re in a different category from all points of view.”
“We have started to work to reduce this important gap. In these first games we have always brought the car to 200 kilometres per hour, we know that to win we have to go like this, and we will do this.”
Finally, Conte spoke of the team’s failure to convert more chances.
“We could have done better finishing our chances, but the team got in front of us. The statistics speak of a very balanced challenge despite the fact that the teams are not.”
