Inter coach Antonio Conte discussed the Nerazzurri’s tough 2-0 win against Atalanta earlier, their season and the 3-5-2 formation in an interview with Italian broadcaster InterTV after the game.
“I’m very happy because we achieved a success against a strong team that have been working together for four years, they showed it in the Champions League and in the league, they scored 98 goals.
“We did well, I’m happy for the players because they deserve praise and that someone will give them credit for these 82 points and the important numbers in this league.”
The 50-year-old Italian coach touched on how the Nerazzurri have some of the best stats in the league and even matched their point record in the Treble winning season under coach Jose Mourinho.
“We have the best defense, the second-best offense, the team who scored the most away points. I’m told that we matched Inter’s Treble season point total, but that team won the Treble after three consecutive Scudetti.
“There was a winning team already there, a team that made history. We’re in a different situation, but I’m happy for the guys and I don’t like how they were treated and how I was treated, I didn’t like any of it. And I saw little protection from the club too.”
The former Chelsea and Juventus boss touched on the Nerazzurri’s second place finish in the league and the fact that they are only one point behind rivals and winners Juventus.
“This year we were always in the Champions League positions, we never slipped out despite there being important teams like Napoli, who didn’t qualify. Or like Roma or AC Milan. That’s good.
“We’ve always been there, the guys have to look at who’s in front of them, that’s the mentality, and they’ve done it. Congratulations to them, they did something special in the difficulties they had during the year in midfield and in attack.
“We won 82 points and fought for a lot of them. The gap with Juve was an average of 26 points, and I’ve seen people kill the players. And me too. And I didn’t like that at all, but to win you have to be strong on and off the pitch. We have a lot to improve on.”
Finally, Conte spoke about the usage of a 3-5-2 formation against the Bergamo based club this evening.
“It was an atypical situation, we always had 5 players in midfield. Barella’s was an atypical position, studied because we played against Atalanta and we had to take advantage of the two against two with Lautaro and Lukaku. We earned a reward we deserved from the first match, the guys were good at controlling the score.”
Inter finished the 2019/20 Serie A season with 82 points, sitting one point behind winners and rivals Juventus, who lost to Roma earlier this evening.
The Nerazzurri’s next game is against Getafe in the Europa League next week, in a game that will be played in a neutral venue in Germany.
