Roberto Mancini “regrets” starting Lukas Podolski rather than Xherdan Shaqiri in Inter’s defeat to Fiorentina.

Mohamed Salah secured the 1-0 victory at San Siro this evening, despite the Viola ending with nine men due to injuries.

“We knew Fiorentina were a great team and this was a very balanced encounter. They got the goal and we had chances to equalise.

Roberto Mancini “regrets” starting Lukas Podolski rather than Xherdan Shaqiri in Inter’s defeat to Fiorentina.

Mohamed Salah secured the 1-0 victory at San Siro this evening, despite the Viola ending with nine men due to injuries.

“We knew Fiorentina were a great team and this was a very balanced encounter. They got the goal and we had chances to equalise.

“We were a little hesitant at the start and that was perhaps the only real problem I saw,” he told Sky Sport Italia.

“We weren’t aggressive enough against a Fiorentina side that passes the ball well. We hoped to do more in attack in the first half, but there weren’t many chances.”

Rodrigo Palacio wasted a golden opportunity by going for goal rather than passing to the unmarked Mauro Icardi.

“We had opportunities and that was one of them. If the ball had gone to Icardi, he probably would’ve scored, but overall the team reacted well to going behind.

“Both sides played their football and tried to win. With the last 20 minutes Fiorentina didn’t do anything other than sit back and we just couldn’t get it in the net.

“We should be content with the reaction when fighting back from a goal down.”

Podolski was again disappointing, whereas Shaqiri came off the bench and immediately made a strong impact with shots and assists.

“Shaqiri played on Thursday, so I thought he should rest, but he did well when coming on. Lukas needs to do more. This is clearly not enough. We know he can give a lot more and we hope he will,” added Mancini.

“Considering the way Shaqiri played when he came on, yes I do regret not starting him, but we couldn’t have known that beforehand.”

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