Simone Inzaghi feels that Inter Milan’s Champions League collapse “stings” because of the chances the team had during the tie.
The Nerazzurri coach gave his reaction to the shootout elimination to Amazon Prime, via FCInterNews.
It’s the end of the road for Inter in Europe this season.
The Nerazzurri will not be equalling last season’s run to the final of the Champions League.
Inter came into the second leg of their round of sixteen tie against Atletico Madrid with a slight advantage.
But the team were unable to hang onto it.
The pressure from the Atletico players on the pitch, and the fans in the stands at the Metropolitano, proved to be too much for the Nerazzurri on the night.
Everything seemed to be going perfectly for Inter after Federico Dimarco scored the first goal on the night, and Inter’s second on aggregate, following a flowing team counterattack.
But a mix-up at the back from defender Benjamin Pavard allowed Antoine Griezmann to score soon after.
And after that, Inter never really looked comfortable.
There were too many errors, and not enough composure. Both defensively, and in possession.
Atletico scored a second late in regulation time through wingback Rodrigo Riquelme.
And whilst Inter showed some flashes of their quality in extra time, as did Atletico, it always looked likely to go to a penalty shootout.
Inzaghi: ‘Inter Had Chances To Kill The Tie Off Vs Atletico’
Once things came down to penalties, Atletico were the team that looked more confident. And they were rewarded with a spot in the quarterfinals.
Inzaghi said after the match that “There’s disappointment for the whole club.”
“But I told the guys that they should still be proud of the Champions League journey they’ve been on.”
“We hadn’t lost in eight matches in the competition,” he continued.
“And then obviously, we should have done more in certain moments.”
“We had the match in hand. But then we made a lot of errors, and that makes the difference.”
The Inter coach said that “There’s disappointment. But the guys have to still be proud of what they’ve done.”
“Tomorrow, I’ll talk to them more calmly,” Inzaghi added.
“More should have been done in the first leg,” he went on.
“But then the match was over.”
“And then after Dimarco gave us the lead here, we should have held onto it better.”
“But instead we allowed them back into it right away,” the coach lamented.
Inzaghi said that “We’re not used to losing. This is a loss that has to sting for us.”
“We had the quarterfinals in hand,” he added.
“But still, as a coach, I’m super proud of this team.”
“It’s sad for all of us, but now we have ten more league matches where we have to do as well as we possible can,” Inzaghi said.
“And the guys have to go away with their heads held high,” the coach went on. “We know that the details make the difference.”
“But we had to kill off the match with those chances we had in the second half,” Inzaghi said.
