Inter coach Antonio Conte spoke to gathered reporters in a press conference earlier today, after the Nerazzurri’s tough 1-1 draw with Atalanta. His words were noted by Italian media outlet FcInterNews.
“I think of this point in a positive way because we played against a team that is a certainty in the league and internationally.
“We had the game in hand, we could have managed it a bit better, the game was done, the guys played a good game from that point of view, it was the seventh game.”
He commented on how far the team have come this season, considering the difficulties related to Covid-19 and injuries.
“We started with six positive cases of Covid-19, two injured players, then Lukaku and two more positives were added. When you find yourself in this situation some people have to play more and tiredness is punished.”
The 51-year-old Italian coach highlighted how many players cannot look to even rest now considering the upcoming international break.
“These guys can’t rest because now they will go to their national teams, they will also play a third friendly match beyond the two official ones, it is a difficult season from many points of view.
“It is necessary to face any possible injuries and psycho-physical overloads. We will have to be good at dealing with that in the best possible way.”
The former Italy and Chelsea coach was hopeful that none of the 16 Nerazzurri players called up would get injured in the international break.
“Now we have managed to recover almost all the players, Vecino not counting, Sensi is injured, the others all recovered including Lukaku, who we must now hope will not get hurt.
“Last time Sanchez came back injured, others were injured. I did the national team job and I know this situation, we hope they will all come back well because from now until Christmas we expect to play 10 games every three days and this will not be easy.”
Finally, Conte spoke about how the Milanese club were ahead for 75 minutes against the Bergamo based club, but failed to take advantage of their chances, allowing Gian Piero Gasperini’s side to score the equaliser.
“There is regret, today playing against Atalanta is not easy for anybody, we are disappointed with the result and this means that we had a good game, playing at Atalanta’s rhythm and sometimes better.
“We have to recover and hope that from the next series of games we can have everyone at our disposal and rotate to avoid injuries.”
Inter’s 1-1 draw against la Dea means that they are still sixth in the league table, after seven games, sitting on 12 points. They are four points behind league leaders and rivals AC Milan, who face Hellas Verona this evening.
