Inter head coach Simone Inzaghi feels that the team will have to shift their focus back to the league now that they’ve officially concluded their Champions League group stage campaign.
Speaking to InterTV after the Nerazzurri’s 2-0 loss to Bayern Munich, the coach emphasized that the team will be ready to think about the knockout stages in February but that for now they are headed back to Serie A, with a tough match against Juventus just around the corner.
Inter have managed to qualify for the Champions League knockout stage for the second season in a row.
Ten points from a group containing Bayern, Barcelona, and Viktoria Plzen has been enough to see the Nerazzurri reach an important goal in their season.
The knockouts of Europe’s top competition will present a significant challenge for Inter and demand a lot from the team.
However, in the meantime there are a number of important matches to be played in Serie A, where the Nerazzurri can hardly afford to drop more points given the start they had.
Inzaghi called qualification for the knockouts “Very important, we knew it wouldn’t be easy given the group we faced.”
“Now we’ll think about the Champions League again in February,” he added.
Of Sunday’s Serie A match against Juventus, Inzaghi said that “We have to face this match with grit, we know that we need to get results in the matches left to go before the break.”
Regarding Inter’s loss to Bayern, the coach said that “We had a good match against a team of the absolute highest level.”
“We could have opened up the scoring had we been given a penalty on Barella’s shot, and then unfortunately we conceded a goal from a set piece which was harsh, but the team always stayed in the game.”
“A number of players put in performances that I was very happy with, thinking about Darmian, Asllani, and Gagliardini,” the coach continued.
