Inter Milan goalkeeper Yann Sommer feels that the team’s shootout exit to the Champions League against Atletico Madrid was a “matter of luck.”
The 35-year-old spoke to Italian broadcaster Sky Sport Italia, via FCInterNews, after the Nerazzurri faced the disappointment of crashing out of Europe’s top club competition.
Inter and Atletico took things right down to the wire in their Champions League round of sixteen tie.
Following Porto and Arsenal on Tuesday, the match went to a penalty shootout.
It was not a good showing from Inter in the shootout.
Hakan Calhanoglu and Francesco Acerbi scored their spot kicks with good efforts.
But substitutes Alexis Sanchez and Davy Klaassen went far too central with their shots. And captain Lautaro Martinez showed why penalties are his Achilles’ heel with a dreadful skied effort.
Meanwhile, Inter keeper Sommer did actually manage to save one.
The veteran former Bayern Munich and Borussia Monchengladbach keeper reacted smartly to get his leg in the way of midfielder Saul Niguez’s penalty.
But the rest of the Atletico kicks went straight past the Inter keeper. There was little Sommer could have done.
Yann Sommer: Shootout Vs Atletico “A Matter Of Luck”
Sommer admitted after the match that “It’s hard to swallow.”
“It was a great battle, we were in the game.”
“Both teams had chances, but going through on penalties is always a matter of luck,” the Inter keeper lamented.
“Unfortunately this time around, it went their way,” he added.
Sommer noted that “I didn’t see the chances we missed well. I was far away.”
“We definitely had opportunities to score the second goal, we were in the game. We had our chances.”
“In the end we went to penalties,” the Swiss international added. “And today luck was not on our side.”
“Now our heads stay held high,” he concluded. “And let’s think about the next objectives.”
