Inter defender Danilo D’Ambrosio is glad that he and his teammates put Saturday’s derby loss to AC Milan behind them with a composed display to get past Roma in the Coppa Italia.
Speaking to InterTV after the match, the 33-year-old emphasized that he felt the team had done well to get their tactics right and control the tempo of a difficult match to secure a place in the semi-finals.
Inter had a dream start to their match against the Giallorossi, with Edin Dzeko scoring against his old side just a couple minutes in with a well-taken volley from an Ivan Perisic cross.
However, Roma didn’t let this demoralize them, and frequently threatened throughout the match, posing a stern test of the Nerazzurri’s quality and character.
However, Inter saw out the match with a clean sheet and sealed the result with a brilliant Alexis Sanchez goal midway through the second half, and D’Ambrosio is happy with how they acquitted themselves.
“The team responded to the derby loss by making it through to the next round with a convincing performance,” he said. “After losing in a derby we wanted to redeem ourselves and we did so very well.”
“They have excellent individual players from midfield going forward,” he added, “we defended as a team and attacked as a team, and we produced two goals.”
“Against Napoli doing this will be vital, as it is against every opponent,” he added, “but they’re a direct competitor for the top spots, and it’s worth a little more.”
“They have the whole week to prepare,” he noted of the Partenopei, “but we’ll prepare well starting tomorrow.”
D’Ambrosio noted that “On Saturday, in addition to not having killed the game off, there was a lack of game management.”
“This time around we managed it better and were able to kill off Roma,” he added. “We were dominant today, we managed the game and controlled the tempo,” he added, “against Milan we didn’t do this as well, and if you’re taking two or three risks in a derby then you can always concede goals.”