Inter head coach Simone Inzaghi feels that Barcelona can’t complain too much about being denied a penalty towards the end of yesterday’s Champions League clash, as the Nerazzurri could have also been awarded one earlier.

Speaking in a press conference after the match, as reported by FCInterNews, the Inter coach responded to the anger of his opposite number Xavi regarding the situation in the closing stages of the match where the Blaugranas were denied what looked like a potential handball penalty.

Inter could have had to settle for a draw if the referee or the VAR had decided to point to the spot for Nerazzurri wingback Denzel Dumfries’s clumsy contact with the ball with his hand in the penalty area.

In the end nothing was given and the Nerazzurri were able to see out the 1-0 victory.

However, the Barcelona players and staff were visibly furious with the decision, perhaps none moreso than head coach Xavi.

Inzaghi said that “I spoke with Xavi before and after the match, great coach and great person, we said goodbye, I think he was referring to situations that I haven’t seen.”

“I saw their goal that was disallowed again,” he continued, “when Onana is coming out of his goal there’s a handball from a Barcelona player, it was right to disallow.”

“But then there was also a penalty that was ruled out for us due to an offside of millimetres,” he then noted.

The coach stated that “We had an excellent match against a strong, technical opponent with a lot of quality, but we put in the intesntiy, aggression, and compactness needed.”

“After going 1-0 we started making some errors due to fatigue, but we saw out an important evening in front of our fans.”

“Now we have to follow this up on Saturday,” he continued, “then we go away to Barcelona, ​​we’ll have to face this period at our best.”

Asked if he thinks that the players showed their teamwork again, Inzaghi responded that “Yes, we did very well, the guys helped each other, those who came on gave the team a hand but also those who remained on the bench joined in.”

“We showed a great spirit of sacrifice, otherwise you won’t beat a team like that,” he continued, “we played a careful game by risking a little even though we gave them a lot of the pitch, it was inevitable that there would be some struggle but the guys did well.”

“Victory against an opponent like this gives you self-belief,” the coach stated, “we needed it but we know we didn’t do anything yet, we gave our fans  the kind of evening they’ve been waiting for for a while.”

“I was serene though, because I’d already seen a lot of good things on Saturday,” Inzaghi continued, “unfortunately marked with a couple of mistakes that in other moments would not have cost us the match, but on Saturday caused us to suffer a painful defeat.”

“Preparing for such an important match in 48 hours wasn’t easy but I want to thank the guys and for them to always enjoy it like this.”

Of Hakan Calhanoglu’s performance in a deeper midfield role, the coach stated that “He’s shown me last season that he can play that role, I had four midfielders, Gagliardini had just recovered, Asllani had an excellent game against Roma and had to rest.”

“Mkhitaryan deserved to play based on how he’s looked since coming back and he played a great match,” he continued.

“I had to choose the other two to complete the trio and I started with Calhanoglu and Barella who both did very well,” he added. “Those who came on as substitutes also did very well.”