Inter coach Luciano Spalletti was understandably disappointed after the final whistle between Inter and Juventus at the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza in Milano’s San Siro district.

Spalletti began by stating that “the team struggled, we managed to held up against most of the attacks after 2-1 but playing with 10 men had its cost of both breath and strength. And then their second goal was very tough psychologically. Of course the third goal came as a result of the disappointment of the equalizer.”

Spalletti was then asked about the Mauro Icardi substitution: “I wanted to sub Perisic but he told me he was ok, that he could participate also in the defensive phase and that he was able to do a 50 meter run in order to defend our goal so the choice was Icardi. If that was a bad substitution I will pay the consequences of that.

“The team deserved the win, they had a great game, with a lot of sacrifices, intensity and the defensive line always was man to man. We could have made a go for the third goal, Icardi almost got there, but we spent a lot of energy on playing 10 against 11. First on pushing up on the left side then on the right and even if it seems to be casual we payed for that during the final stage of the game. We held up very well for most of the game but at the final minutes it just got to hard. We saw a great Inter, but the final result is tough to accept. Sometimes the player perform in a way that makes you think they only play for the money and do not care about the club. Instead they showed us tonight that they have sensitivity, a soul and that they want to bring joy to all the fans watching at home and at the stadium, a crowd that tonight deserved so much more than they got. The team showed great professionalism and an ever bigger heart” Spalletti concluded.