Inter manager Antonio Conte has praised his team for the performance that they put in in their 2-1 win over Bayer Leverkusen in the Europa League quarter final on Monday night.
Nicolo Barella and Romelu Lukaku scored within the first 20 minutes and their goals were quickly followed by Bayer Leverkusen’s only goal, which came from Kai Havertz.
“Certainly there has never been a lack of confidence in the team, we have worked hard and I think the result of the work has been seen in the league and now in the cup,” he explained to the gathered media in his press conference post-match at the Merkur Spiel-Arena in Dusseldorf, Germany.
“I think the team needs to be commended because we played an important game, both in the non-possession phase because we always put pressure on our opponent and stopped them doing what they do what they like and in the possession phase because we studied the situations to put Bayer Leverkusen in difficulty.”
The 51-year-old then went on to state one thing that can be complained about from the match against the Bundesliga club.
“We can complain for not having scored more, we did not suffer but when you are 2-1 up and you have many chances to score, you have to kill the game off but I’m happy.”
The former Italian national team boss then went on to share his belief that his side were deserved winners and deserving of their place in the Europa League semi finals, where they will face either Shakhtar Donetsk or FC Basel.
“I would say that we deserved to win the game from every point of view. We were good at creating the conditinos for Bayer Leverkusen to do badly.
“Now the team are understanding the desire to defend even far away from goal and this brings us important benefits. In the possession phase we created a lot of difficulties for Bayer Leverkusen with us creating many scoring chances. We deserved to go to the semi finals by far against an excellent team.”
Conte then spoke on each of the Nerazzurri’s potential semi final opponents as well as the need to prepare for the match and be deserving of reaching the final should they manage to do so.
“We have to see who we will play in the semi finals. Shakthar Donetsk are an excellent team with great individuals, many Brazilians and used to this competition, whilst Basel have achieved extraordinary results.
“We will watch the game between them then we will have six days to prepare for the semi final. Now we have amply deserved to reach the semifinals. Now the ambition must be to look to the maximum but we must deserve the final and be good at recovering energy and working.”
