Legendary former AC Milan coach Arrigo Sacchi feels that Inter suffered from tiredness after their Champions League match against Liverpool during their Serie A loss to Sassuolo.
Speaking to Milan-based newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport in an interview published in today’s print edition, the former coach stressed that the tiring and intense match against the Reds will have weighed the Nerazzurri down against the Neroverdi.
Inter will have expected their head-to-head clashes with AC Milan and Napoli to have been difficult, and the dropped points in those matches will not have come as a complete surprise.
Against Sassuolo, however, the Nerazzurri will have felt that they should have taken three points given their opposition’s place in the table.
Instead, Inter lost to a Neroverdi team who overran them in midfield and then defended well, though they were far from the only team in Serie A to suffer a shock result with all of Serie A’s top eight teams dropping points over the weekend.
Sacchi feels that for the Nerazzurri in particular, tiredness was a factor, stating that “Simone Inzaghi’s team can point to one excuse above all – the Champions League.”
“European matches take away energy,” he added, “you go into the eye of a storm and come out worse for wear.”
“If then, after having given everything like the Nerazzurri did against Liverpool, they lose, then the situation becomes even more complicated,” he added. “Sassuolo, who have won twice at San Siro and once in Turin against Juve, were difficult opponents.”
