Inter are growing as a team and are maturing a lot, according to Inter coach Antonio Conte after Inter’s win over Genoa earlier on today.

Inter comfortably got past Davide Ballardini’s in-form Genoa side with goals from Romelu Lukaku, Matteo Darmian and Alexis Sanchez helping the league leaders to a 3-0 triumph at home.

“We played against Genoa who were in excellent form and in the last period they have picked up just one point less than us,” Conte remarked in an interview with Italian broadcaster Sky Sport Italia, following the match at San Siro.

“We did well, with the right approach and the right determination.

“We conceded almost nothing and we did well to score three goals and Perin made several important saves for them.

“We are happy, the work is paying off as it had paid off last year.

“The team is growing in terms of awareness of its own means. The team know how to recognise situations and is maturing a lot.

“However, there are still 14 games to go, now we will have to take on Parma.

“We have to prove that we are a team who always have our ears pricked for danger, not just in the big games, so we can give the Inter fans the joy they deserve.”

The former Italian national team coach was also asked whether he will tune in to tonight’s big match between fellow title rivals AC Milan and Roma.

“Yes, because football is my passion. It will be a good match and I will definitely watch it.”

Conte then denied there being any sort of Scudetto pact and admitted he thinks the team would do well in the UEFA Champions League if they were in it right now.

“There has not been any Scudetto pact. These are Inter players, they must always have the ambition to win.

“It has been many years since Inter won anything, we came very close last season, despite the fact it was my first year.

“I think we went out of the Champions League undeservedly, but that made us look at ourselves and realise we all had to raise the bar, to be more competitive.

“If we had been in the Champions League right now, I think we could’ve had our say in that tournament.”

Inter are now 10 points clear of arch-rivals Juventus and Conte shared his delight with the progress made when it comes to closing the gap on the Bianconeri, who have won the last nine league titles.

“In previous years, the gap with Juventus was a good 15 points for Inter.

“So if we want to be objective and calculate the gap from the leaders and Inter before I arrived, last season was already an enormous step forward.

“I think we simply continued the project and we are doing something important, but there are 14 games to go.

“We have to continue like this, knowing the team has grown in every way, that we created wonderful synergy and empathy between everyone here, but winning is the aim.”

The former Chelsea boss was also asked about the off-field issues at the club and whether they have further brought the team together.

“When you are at a club like Inter, out of respect for the fans and history, you have to concentrate on the pitch.

“Besides, all I can do is focus on what I can influence. The same goes for the players. There’s no point wasting time and energy on things we cannot influence.”

Inter are next in action on Thursday night versus Parma and Conte briefly looked ahead to the fixture.

“We have plenty of time to recover, we have to think from match to match without doing any calculations.

“We have great respect for my friend D’Aversa’s Parma, we will field the best team.”