Former Nerazzurri coach Mircea Lucescu admits that he “can’t understand” how Inter Milan collapsed in the second half against Atletico Madrid.
The iconic Romanian coach gave his thoughts on his old team’s European exit to Italian broadcaster TuttoMercatoWeb.
Inter were severely disappointed to let qualification for the Champions League quarterfinals slip from their grasp earlier this month.
The Nerazzurri had beaten Spanish giants Atletico Madrid 1-0 in the first leg of their round of sixteen tie.
Moreover, it had been a quite convincing performance from the Serie A leaders.
Inter had a couple of golden chances to score even more goals. Meanwhile, Atletico did not muster a single shot on target.
So there was little doubt that Inter were the favourites to progress from the tie.
But the second leg in Madrid was always likely to be a different story.
Atletico are a different team playing in front of their fans. And Inter would be in a hugely intimidating atmosphere at the Metropolitano.
Lucescu “Can’t Understand” How Inter Collapsed In Second Half Vs Atletico Madrid
Everything did seem to be going perfectly for Inter when they scored the opener in Madrid through wingback Federico Dimarco.
But then Atletico got right back into the match.
France international striker Antoine Griezmann seized on a defensive mix-up by Inter to quickly get a goal back from the home side.
That set up a second half in which Inter needed to hold out knowing that one slip-up on their part or one moment of quality from the home sides would completely flip the tie on its head.
And in the end that’s what happened.
Substitute Memphis Depay found the back of the net late on for Atletico.
That forced extra time and then an eventual penalty shootout. Inter withered during the shootout, missing three of their five kicks.
Lucescu lamented, “It was a massive shame.”
“I couldn’t understand what happened in the second half,” the former coach admitted. “It was very sorry to see it.”
Lucescu commented that “This could have been Inter’s year.”
“The team is stronger than the one from last season,” he added. “But in football, the strongest team doesn’t always win.”
“Now they’ll have to try again next season.”
