Former Inter full back Antonio Paganin believes that Inter could have killed the game off very early on against Bayer Leverkusen in the quarter finals of the Europa League on Monday night.
“Inter could have ended the game immediately. The league games have given the team the right fruits, and it is right that they now believe in the final,” he explained in an interview with Italian news outlet TuttoMercatoWeb’s radio station TMW Radio yesterday afternoon.
“Inter are a team that builds a lot, they have truly devastating individuals like Romelu Lukaku. I hope Alexis Sanchez’s injury is nothing serious.”
Paganin then went on to share his thoughts on Inter attacking midfielder Christian Eriksen, who performed well against Bayer Leverkusen after coming off of the bench.
“The difficulty in adapting to Conte’s football is certainly paying off, because it requires a lot of pressure and is very physical. The same thing has been seen in several players who arrived this year. It was difficult for many to adapt to Conte’s style.”
Next he was asked whether he thinks Inter are deserving of their place in the Europa League semi finals based on their performances in the previous rounds of the competition.
“Absolutely, because Inter create so much ahead of them and they have been really good. They have established themselves and have shown themselves to be a great team. I see them as the favorites to get to the final. In the final I’d prefer Inter to face Manchester United.”
In conclusion he was asked to give Inter’s season a rating between one and 10.
“Eight and a half, because let’s remember that they only finished one point behind Juventus but if you go and see where it was possible to earn that point, it remains very disappointing.”
Paganin spent a five year period with Inter between the years 1990 and 1995 and during his time with the club he made a total of 141 appearances across all competitions.
In his time with the club he scored a single goal and won two trophies with Inter, the 1990/91 edition of the UEFA Cup and the 1993/94 edition of the same competition, which has since been rebranded as the Europa League.
