Alessandro Bastoni explains how Simone Inzaghi was ‘very important’ in changing the Inter tactics to make everyone more ‘mobile’ and unpredictable after hammering Atalanta 4-0.
The Nerazzurri are now 12 points clear at the top of the Serie A table and surely it would take something extraordinary now for them to lose the Scudetto.
“We’ve been saying for a while, the Final in Istanbul gave us a great deal in terms of confidence, unity and the desire to get back there again. We are happy to work hard together and reach these objectives together,” Bastoni told DAZN.
“We started this journey several years ago, many of us have been maturing together whereas five years ago we were not ready to play for certain targets.”
They rode their luck early when the Charles De Ketelaere opener was disallowed for Aleksei Miranchuk’s handball, then ran riot with Matteo Darmian, Lautaro Martinez, Federico Dimarco turning in the rebound from a parried Lautaro Martinez penalty and the Davide Frattesi header.
“We know how important the strength of the team unit is. We had too many defeats last season, so this is a victory for the coach, the players and everyone who stayed united during difficult moments.”
Bastoni has always been something of a deep-lying playmaker, but in the last couple of years he and the other centre-backs have also started pushing up more regularly to put crosses in and this makes them quite unpredictable.
“It is something we are working on. Inzaghi was very important in that, as I was not so mobile at the start, but we all need to be concentrated and it is not easy to find someone like Mkhitaryan who gets deeper to play in defence or Lautaro Martinez who connects with the midfield.
“We all move around and try to leave very few reference points.”
Bastoni was booked late on and will therefore be suspended for the next Serie A match.