Inter Coach Antonio Conte: “Disappointed But Now We Must Think About The Champions League”

Inter coach Antonio Conte spoke to gathered reporters in a press conference this evening, after the Nerazzurri’s painful 2-1 derby defeat to AC Milan. His words were noted by Italian media outlet FcInterNews.

“I think we started well, attacking and creating chances. We could have scored goals and instead we found ourselves behind two goals. Disappointed because AC Milan are strong, it is inevitable that if you go down against a strong team.

“Then it becomes difficult. We could have at least reached a draw but congratulations to AC Milan, they held their ground, they were resilient and kept the advantage of one goal until the end.”

He commented on whether he took too many risks with his defense.

“It depends on how you look at it, certainly we were penalized more than we should have been, because we conceded two goals but at the same time we could have scored a few more. There is work to be done in some situations and try to improve and always find the right balance.”

The 51-year-old Italian coach suggested that he was not angry with the team for their performance, and was now looking ahead to their next game against German side Borussia Monchengladbach in the Champions League.

“However, I’m not angry at the team, they had a great game despite the initial difficulties.

“They created a lot but we are talking about a defeat and we have to be good at resetting, thinking now about the Champions League match, bringing the many positive things, while looking at the negative things to try and improve.”

Finally, Conte spoke about why he decided to deploy Chilean forward Alexis Sanchez as a substitute, and the player’s physical condition.

“Sanchez arrived and we were very alarmed because in Chile they were talking about a major muscle injury. Yesterday he and Vidal trained, he trained at a reduced regime because we wanted to be sure it wasn’t something serious.

“He was fatigued on a muscular level and today he entered in the last fifteen minutes to avoid possible injuries that would be very serious for us.”

Inter will have to brush off their disappointing defeat to the Rossoneri, as their next game is an important one.

The Milanese club will play their Champions League opening match against Borussia Monchengladbach. Their other group opponents are Real Madrid and Shakhtar Donetsk, so a win against the Bundesliga side is crucial.