Antonio Conte has sung the praises of two unsung Inter heroes following tonight’s crucial win over Sassuolo.
Romelu Lukaku and Lautaro Martinez stole the headlines once again at San Siro, scoring a goal in each half to secure a 2-1 victory.
Conte wanted to mark out Matteo Darmian and Alexis Sanchez for particular praise though, with the Italian doing a great job in place of the suspended Alessandro Bastoni today.
“Darmian has settled in brilliantly with us at Inter,” Conte told reporters during his post-match press conference.
“He’s pragmatic and he always delivers for us.
“But there are many players like him, from Stefano Sensi to Matias Vecino, who came off the bench – and not just in the final few minutes – and gave us a great hand tonight.
“Sanchez would deserve to play more, but with Lautaro and Lukaku in this kind of form it’s difficult.
“He is an exemplary professional and I must thank him for the way he is applying himself.
“Everyone is involved and participating to our cause, with the right level of determination.
“We’re heading towards an objective which would be extraordinary (the Scudetto.”
Inter have won a tenth straight game in Serie A for the first time since the 2006-07 season, when Roberto Mancini’s side stormed to the Scudetto in Italy’s first campaign post-Calciopoli.
Conte’s side are 11 points clear of second-placed AC Milan as a result of their incredible form – but he warned his players that this was where things would start getting really tough.
“We’re the team that sees the Scudetto from a closer distance compared to our rivals,” the Inter boss explained.
“Experience has taught me we need to stay concentrated on our objective.
“We need 15-16 points to be mathematically certain of the title and that’s a lot.
“We’ll need to do a good job right from the game against Cagliari, being aware of the pression we have and the importance of the points up for grabs.
“Other teams will be feeling the pressure less than us now.”
Inter will return to action at home to struggling Cagliari on Sunday.
