Inter defender Alessandro Bastoni is glad to have responded to city rivals AC Milan’s win against Venezia with a victory of their own against Lazio in Serie A yesterday evening.
Speaking to InterTV after the match, the 22-year-old spoke about his goal and emphasized the importance of holding onto their advantage at the top of the table with the Rossoneri nipping at their heels.
Inter went into the winter break four points clear at the top of Serie A, but with Milan playing two games before them, their city rivals managed to go clear at the top, albeit with the Nerazzurri having two games in hand.
It was vital that the Nerazzurri showed that they were not feeling the pressure after the Rossoneri produced an emphatic 3-0 win over Venezia yesterday afternoon, and they showed their best against the Biancocelesti.
The Nerazzurri secured three points to go back to the top of the table, and Bastoni feels that they sent a message to their rivals for the Scudetto.
“We wanted to send a message after Milan went ahead of us with two wins,” he stated. “They showed they won’t let up until the very end.”
He added that “It wasn’t easy tonight, Lazio made it hard for us in our first match against them and we had to be at our best to win here.”
On his goal, Bastoni stated that “I hadn’t scored for almost two years, sometimes that’s what it takes.”
“The coach asks us to push forward, when I push up Ivan covers for me,” he said. “It’s a very fluid football. We enjoy ourselves and we win so we want to keep going.”
Of his subsequent attempts after his goal the defender stated that “After the first one goes in it’s normal to try again. My goal is not as important as the victory and the performance we showed though, I’m happy with that.”
On the fact the he and fellow defender Milan Skriniar scored the Nerazzurri’s goals, Bastoni stated that “It’s unusual to see but it’s a nice reward for a role that sometimes isn’t given the same amount of credit.”
“We usually look at the attackers, and rightly so, but we also want to make everyone understand that we’re as important as they are,” he emphasized.
Bastoni closed by stating “And now, the Supercoppa. For tonight we’ll enjoy the victory, and then tomorrow we start focusing on that match.”
