Inter head coach Simone Inzaghi feels that the team have greater self-belief after what they achieved against Barcelona over the past week.
Speaking to Italian broadcaster DAZN after this afternoon’s Serie A victory over Salernitana, the coach stressed the mental impact of the statement results against the Blaugranas.
Inter went into their Champions League match against Barcelona at the San Siro at a low point in their season, having lost their two previous matches in Serie A against Udinese and Roma.
However, a 1-0 win against the Catalan giants showed just how much the team can work and fight.
The Nerazzurri followed it up with a 3-3 draw at the Camp Nou with another battling performance to put one foot in the knockout rounds of the competition.
Meanwhile, Inzaghi’s team have now won two on the bounce in the league, against Sassuolo and Salernitana.
“We came into this off the back off some important matches where we spent a lot of physical and mental energy,” he said of the clash with Salernitana.
“But I asked for the right attitude and the guys controlled the match for 93 minutes, without suffering against a well-organized opponent.”
He continued that “Obviously such great performances like those against Barca give us a lot of self-belief.”
“But for a coach, games like these are the most difficult to face,” he said of this afternoon’s win over Salernitana, “having only two and a half days to prepare after a tough away match.”
Of the process of getting past the poor start to the season, Inzaghi said that “There have always been confrontations among the players, which is fine as long as they’re constructive which ours have always been.”
“We’ve gotten three wins and a draw but the most important thing is seeing the players helping their teammates out,” he added.
“This gives us hope for the future.”
Of the goalkeeping situation Inzaghi updated that “Today Handanovic was not available, after Barcelona he had a problem with his hand but he wanted to be here.”
“It will a rotation that isn’t clearly settled through the season, it’s a good doubt for me to have,” he said of the alternation between Handanovic and Andre Onana.
“Handanovic has clearly had a great journey, and Onana has shown that he belongs at Inter.”
“I always want to be fortunate enough to have a tough choice in goal like everywhere else on the pitch.”
Of the good performance by Hakan Calhanoglu as the team’s regista, Inzaghi said that “Maybe it surprises you, but not very much for me.”
“If I put him in that position against Barcelona it means that I believe he can play well there,” he noted.
“Then there’s also Asllani who is growing a lot, now I have four players in that position and I look forward to seeing getting Brozovic and Gagliardini back.”
And asked if striker Romelu Lukaku could be back against Fiorentina, Inzaghi said that “We’ll see, based on what we see day by day.”
“There was some hope for this match, but the tests didn’t give a positive result.”
“But he’s working one day at a time, we hope he can return soon and add to the rotation of the team,” he said of the Belgian.
