MADRID, 14 Mar. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The coach of Inter Milan, Simone Inzaghi, regretted the missed chances by his team in the defeat against an Atlético de Madrid that showed itself to be “a difficult rival”, which knocked them out of the Champions League in the second leg of the round of 16 .
“The boys have to be proud of what they have done, I have spoken in the locker room with them, we are all sad in the Inter family, but we must congratulate the team because they have fought,” he said at a press conference at the Metropolitan.
The Italian coach referred to the options his team had to prevent Atlético from not stopping believing until they gave in in the penalty shootout. “In the second half they did better and in extra time we had the game and the classification in our hands, these are opportunities that we normally do not miss. But we must not forget that Atlético has shown itself to be a difficult rival,” he stated. .
“Bisseck has entered very well into a game and a moment that is not easy, he is a boy who has shown a great personality in the last six or seven months. And Thuram has fought, clearly he should have been more lucid on occasion. But no “only him, Barella and Lautaro too. There I had the feeling that we could have avoided the penalties,” he added.
Inzaghi also saw his team better in extra time, but regretted some mistakes that in the Champions League are paid more dearly. “In extra time, in the last minutes the team that played the best was Inter. This does not slow us down, it is normal that now there is disappointment on the part of the boys, but we know that we have a good advantage in Serie A and “Now we have to regain strength because it was a very tough game and on Sunday we will have another important game,” he stated.
“The Champions League matches are not easy in this stadium. We made the mistake of not closing the first half with an advantage and then in the second half we lost passes, we stretched ourselves too much and then in extra time I think we played well and deserved a better result,” he added.
On the other hand, the Inter coach recognized the worthwhile interventions of a decisive Jan Oblak in the penalty shootout with two saves. “If you miss three times, you pay for it on penalties. His goalkeeping has also been very good, it’s clear, but he has cost us and we would have liked to continue moving forward in this competition,” he concluded.