Inter coach Antonio Conte admitted that his side are on the verge of securing the title after a 1-0 win over Hellas Verona this afternoon, whilst lauding his defence.
The Nerazzurri moved 13 points clear at the top of the Serie A table ahead of AC Milan’s match against Lazio tomorrow, after Matteo Darmian scored the only goal of the game at the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza.
In an interview with Italian television broadcaster DAZN after the match, Conte conceded that his side were almost over the line in securing the Scudetto after victory against a difficult opponent, but there was still work to be done.
“I think that we have a 95% chance of winning the Scudetto, I think this was an important match,” Conte claimed.
“It is not yet achieved, but winning against a team that had nothing to lose and came to play openly brings not three, not six, but nine points.
“With the ball many players found themselves feeling the pressure. But I think that even today against Verona we had many chances to score.
“Certainly chances like Lautaro’s at the start show that the pressure is more than usual, being able to win this year means earning experience that leads you to become a winner and this is important.
“Others, however, are losing points, while we have a steady squad. Sometimes we struggle, but the important thing is to keep our foot on the accelerator.”
Inter have enjoyed defensive dominance recently and have only conceded a single shot in each of their last three games, prompting Conte to compare Milan Skriniar, Stefan De Vrij and Alessandro Bastoni to his famous ‘BBC’ Juventus backline from 2011 to 2014.
“I see many similarities with Bonucci, Barzagli and Chiellini at Juve. They too gave away nothing and there are many similarities with Stefan, Alessandro and Milan. If they start to win they will find more awareness and confidence.
“The BBC was new in terms of victories when they started with me, let’s talk about them after an important achievement. I hope the same thing can happen for Skriniar, Bastoni and De Vrij. At Chelsea it was different, they were players with important experiences who were used to winning.”
Conte has developed a pre-match habit of walking around the pitch but insisted that he was not superstitious, particularly in regard to the title.
“I have been doing it for some time with [assistant Gabriele] Oriali, we take a walk that allows us to release tension and assess the pitch, as players no longer do it.
“In those moments time stops, but you want it to start as soon as possible because you want to see how it ends, to celebrate as we have done frequently over the past two years. Celebrating repays the many sacrifices and worries that the game goes the way it was planned.
“I’m not superstitious, a coach at my level cannot be satisfied. I joined Inter knowing that I also have a 1% chance of winning and work from that.
“The maximum is our objective, then we have to be realistic, to understand the situation of the club. I realise that my surname leads to expectations of winning, if I don’t it’s a problem.”
Conte admitted that he would feel immense pride at leading this team to the title after two years of hard work.
“In these two years we have worked hard mentally as well as through football. As said many times, Inter had not been competitive for a very long time. We tried last year with the Europa League Final and coming second.
“This year we are close to the Scudetto. We work on our mentality. Sometimes it’s difficult, but I have found few winners who know how to be take it easy. In the end the path is extremely difficult and needs work, sacrifice and giving up certain things. Those who demand this are seen badly at the beginning but the results make the players understand that the path is right and they trust the coach,” he concluded.
