Inter proved themselves to be a great team with their win over Fiorentina, at least in the eyes of central midfielder Nicolo Barella.

The 23-year-old opened the scoring for Inter in their 2-0 success at the Stadio Artemio Franchi with a fine curling effort and thanks to the win Inter are now sitting at the top of the Serie A table at least until Sunday.

Ivan Perisic was also on the score-sheet in the second half against Cesare Prandelli’s side.

“Let’s say that victories are all important, but after a setback we did well to get the win,” Barella remarked in an interview with Italian broadcaster Sky Sport Italia following the full-time whistle in Florence.

“Playing in Florence is never easy but today we proved to be a great team.

“We could have killed the match off earlier, I too could have taken advantage of some chances, but we won and we are happy.”

Barella then went on to share where he thinks he still has to improve as a player and also thanked Claudio Marchisio for his recent praise of him.

“I was not scoring goals, now they are coming but I can do better.

“I thank the team because they allow me to do everything I do.

“Marchisio’s praise of me? I thank him, he was a great player.

“I see myself a little in him, even if he scored a lot more but I can score more.

“I’m happy for the compliments he gave me.”

The Italian international, who has recently been linked with a move to Real Madrid by the Spanish media, then spoke on how things differ when Alexis Sanchez plays with Romelu Lukaku opposed to Lautaro Martinez.

“Sanchez and Lautaro have different characteristics, Alexis has to touch the ball more to get into the game while Lauti opens up more spaces for me so I can try and make forward runs.

“The coach, however, did not ask me for anything different from the other games, only to get forward and give a solid performance.”

This season Barella has scored three goals and provided 10 assists for his teammates.