It was a happy Andrea Stramaccioni who met with Sport Mediaset after having watched his side notch up 10 wins in a row after beating Partizan Belgrad 1-3 away which also means that Inter are through to the knock-out stages in the Europe League: “Today it was a question of best being abale to manage our energy. We have been playing a lot of matches recently, also right now we have injury problems. A coach prepares for matches by taking these factors into account. My idea was to play cautiously in the first half and then try to go for the win in the second half. Especially when playing with the trio up front, you risk a lot. Palacio? He was the first player who arrived during the summer, he was a player who we’d been following for quite some time. He laso plays as if he’s been with us for ages, he has started really well just like everyone at Inter. It was very important for us to secure qualification to the knock-out stages, this way we can go to Kazan and rely on our ability to handle the situation better than them. However, vi always try to get a good result with us everytime we play: to win 10 games away from home is a sign of true strength.”
Stramaccioni continued by giving praise to Handanovic but also to give a brief comment regarding the injury situation: “The first save was a save only a true champion can make, it was a goal. He continues to show that he is one of Europe’s top goalkeepers. We shifted to a 3-man defence during a period when our opponents were putting us under pressure, we managed to find a goal and also we suffered less so it went well. Also Gaby suffered a slight pain today, he was very disappointed and he cares a lot, he is really a brilliant lad. I think this injury was in part due to the cold but we continue moving forward. I don’t know who will recover in time for Bergamo, at this moment it is only these injuries that cause me grief. Livaja? I can’t ask anything more of him than what he gave on the pitch today, he also created two good chances. If the win in turin gave the team a belief that they could achieve something big this season? I certainly hope so, if you ask me the most important sign of this was given by the team by winning the way we did against the league leaders in front of their homecrowd. But we have to think about things one match at a time, the most important things we showed today was our concentration and our attentiveness. No we’re looking forward to the games against Atalanta and Parma who I’ve been following.”
A few moments later Stramaccioni was interviewed by Italian Sky where he continued to lavish praise on the team but also in particular two players who have been severely criticized for the below-par performances: “It’s nice to have won again, we go home with the knowledge that we have qualified from our group by winning against a very good Partizan side. Jonathan and Silvestre are the two players who have played the least so far but they are far from being the least important players, Jonathan defended really well against a Markovic who caused us all sorts of troubles in our last meeting. Also Livaja who was all alone up there in the first half played very well, as well as Guarin, but also not forgetting Handanovic who produced some magical saves. Now we can put our objective of qualifying from the group behind us, I’d also like to win the group, the fact that we have already secured qualification gives us serenity now we want to continue by playing like Inter.”
In conclusion Stramaccioni was asked to give his thoughts on what the turning point was for Inter so far in the season: “Personally I think it was the defeat against Siena, because this team came back after that game like real men. Here no-one has lost their way, not the players nor the staff, we have started on a positive path, we are happy and we return to Milan to prepare for a very difficult match. Moratti’s message on my voicemail? I have n’t had a chance to look at my phone so I have no idea….”
