After seeing his side crowned Serie A champions today, Inter coach Antonio Conte admitted that it was one of the most significant triumphs of his career.
The Nerazzurri were officially crowned title winners this afternoon after Atalanta failed to beat Sassuolo, with the 1-1 draw ensuring that Inter cannot be caught at the top of the table.
Conte has now won five league titles as a coach, with three at Juventus preceding his Premier League triumph with Chelsea, and the coach spoke of his joy when appearing on Italian television channel Rai earlier today.
“It is certainly one of the most important successes in my career. It was difficult because it was not an easy choice for me to go to Inter, at a time when they were certainly not equipped and competitive to win something important,” Conte claimed.
“It is the rival of Juve, where I played for a long time and who dominated in Italy for nine years. There were the most negative situations to be found, but I accepted the challenge with great desire and the work paid off for the sacrifices made.”
After replacing Luciano Spalletti as Inter coach in May 2019, Conte led the club to second place and the Europa League Final in his first season and argued that tactical tweaks had seen them go further this year.
“During the match we alternated between different situations, dropping back and then gaining the space or inviting the opponents to approach us and then attacking on the counter.
“The team has developed a lot in a season where we have had to learn different approaches. You can’t always attack, just as you can’t always defend.
“You must understand when to attack or wait. When it was necessary to attack it was done, when we had to hold back we did so and solutions have always been found. This is where the improvement has been.
“During the game there are different moments. A team cannot press for 90 minutes, the opponents study you and manage to get past you. By having the patience to wait and understand when to strike, and being physically well-trained team, we knew that anyone we could overcome anyone.”
Despite being dominant on the pitch for much of the season, Inter have endured turmoil behind the scenes, with financial uncertainty a backdrop since Christmas. However, Conte pointed to criticism of Inter’s elimination from the Champions League in December as a significant moment.
“I think the key moment was in the week in which we went out of the Champions League and there was exaggerated criticism from all sides in my opinion.
“It wasn’t easy, this was a group of guys who were not used to competing for something important. We were good at compacting ourselves and using those criticisms as fuel to be even stronger. I think that was the most difficult moment, but the criticism served to unite us more.”
With the Scudetto now confirmed, Conte insisted that he wanted to enjoy the moment and was not thinking about the future for the time being.
“At this moment it is right to enjoy the Scudetto, we will not make the mistake of trying to have meetings or discussions with the management. We want to enjoy this extraordinary moment, then there will be time to do what needs to be done. We will experience our joy and we want to share it with the fans.
“I think that the steps we have taken this year have led us to win the title, we have to go keep going. I repeat, let’s enjoy this moment, the step forward that the boys wanted to take. We have a month to play the last four games and make the most of this joy and then think carefully about the future.”
Having ended Juventus’ nine-year dominance, Inter travel to the Allianz Stadium in the penultimate game of the season, but Conte insisted that his side would not become complacent.
“It will be a match that will count, because we will have to do our part until the end of the season, and we will have to give our all until the end.
“There are four games remaining, we won the Scudetto four game to spare, and this is an incredible thing. For me it’s always a pleasure to enter that stadium, now I’m learning to do it as an opponent.”
Finally, the coach chose to dedicate his success to his family, as well as assistant Lele Oriali.
“I dedicate it to the people close to me away from the pitch; my wife, my daughter, my brothers. I want to thank Lele Oriali, who was very important to me. He helped me a lot and was the person who had the greatest influence in these two years,” he concluded.