Antonio Conte admits he could never have dreamed to see Inter so far clear of Juventus in Serie A after tonight’s win against Sassuolo.
Juventus beat Napoli in their game in hand this evening but Inter responded with a 2-1 victory over the Neroverdi at San Siro.
Romelu Lukaku and Lautaro Martinez’s goals ensured Conte’s side remained 12 points clear of their arch rivals, with only nine games left to play.
Asked what he thought of having such a big gap, Conte told Sky Sport Italia: “I’m astonished.
“Not even in my wildest dreams could I have imagined that we’d make up this much ground on the team that’s dominated Serie A for nine years in the space of two seasons.
“This doesn’t mean we’re better than Juventus, they have a great squad; we’ve rolled our sleeves up and started doing some important work, trying to make ourselves credible.
“The league was always dominated by one team and we’ve managed to change that.
“This has motivated us a lot, it’s been an extra incentive for everyone, especially for those who are fighting for this objective (a league title) for the first time.
“We played the UEFA Europa League final last season, now we’ll try to achieve what is for us our maximum objective at the moment.”
Lautaro stole the show once again against Sassuolo as he doubled Inter’s lead on the counterattack in the second half.
The 23-year-old has already surpassed his league tally from last season (13, he is now on 15) and Conte was full of praise for the striker once again, along with Alexis Sanchez.
“Lautaro has improved like all the players,” Conte added.
“I praised him in yesterday’s pre-match press conference because he’s improving hugely in every aspect, in terms of controlling the ball, running in behind and his passing.
“Lautaro looked for Lukaku a lot today, they’re two players who are doing very well and I’d like to spend a word for Sanchez’s performance as well.
“Sanchez would deserve a lot more at the moment, I’m having selection headaches and I’ve told him that.
“He can be an important player for us, but he has Lukaku and Lautaro ahead of him and this is causing me a problem for Sanchez.
“I wanted to praise him because he should be playing from the start more; Sanchez would have deserved to score today, but there we go.”
Conte also warned his players that the pressure would only get bigger from this point onwards, with Inter now odds-on favourites to clinch their first league title in 11 years.
“The ball is going to start weighing heavily in every match now because we’re in a significant position in the table,” he explained.
“Lots of our players find themselves in this position for the first time in their careers.
“Today’s win is a win of huge value, there’s no point denying it, we’re showing some incredible consistency and the credit goes to the players.
“We knew Sassuolo would be good in possession but we took them where we wanted and scored two goals, and we could have scored more to make the result more emphatic.
“It’s not a problem to admit that we’re favourites now, we know we’re fighting for something important.
“We’re ready to roll up our sleeves and get our hands dirty in order to reach this important objective.”
