Antonio Conte believes it was “a balanced encounter” until the goal, but concedes Inter are still a long way off Juventus. “The difference is that we lost to them twice.”
The Nerazzurri needed a victory to get back into the title race, but have now fallen nine points behind leaders Juve and eight adrift of Lazio – albeit with another game in hand to be played against Sampdoria.
Antonio Conte believes it was “a balanced encounter” until the goal, but concedes Inter are still a long way off Juventus. “The difference is that we lost to them twice.”
The Nerazzurri needed a victory to get back into the title race, but have now fallen nine points behind leaders Juve and eight adrift of Lazio – albeit with another game in hand to be played against Sampdoria.
Aaron Ramsey and Paulo Dybala goals seemed to transform the match and Inter never quite recovered.
“It was a very balanced encounter up until the goal and we had started the second half much better than them, but that Ramsey goal changed everything, above all psychologically,” Conte told Sky Sport Italia.
“It boosted their confidence and hit ours, so we were unable to recover from that.”
This result means there is a nine-point gap with Juventus and eight from Lazio, although Inter do have a game in hand.
“The difference between us and Juventus, not counting the game in hand with Sampdoria, is six points. That’s the two defeats at San Siro and here,” added Conte.
“We tried to stay in their slipstream, but must learn from defeat and take the lessons of comparison to grow in terms of character, quality and strength. It’s a loss that must help us to grow and understand how far away we are.
“It certainly shouldn’t make us distraught, as we knew there was a gap and we lost both meetings with them. The results speak clearly, they won two and we got zero points.
“We must grow in terms of character if we want to compete at the highest level. It’s also about characteristics, as there are players who are stronger in personality and others less so. We all need to do better in that sense and be more determined.”
Conte was asked if he had expected more of a reaction or a fight from his Nerazzurri in the head-to-head clashes with Juventus.
“We are talking about a Juventus team that got stronger every year for eight seasons, adding quality players with a lot of experience and trophies already.
“This project only started seven months ago and we are trying to do our best in terms of squad, but cannot compare to a side that dominated Italian football for eight years. We are here playing these games and looking at objectives that are higher than previous seasons.
“We must build the project, brick by brick, year by year, to reach the level of experience, quality and character that Juventus have. I see all the others as very distant from Juve right now.”
This fixture was meant to be last week, but postponed due to the Coronavirus outbreak and eventually played behind closed doors, meaning Conte returned to an empty Juventus Stadium.
There are now calls from the Players’ Association and Minister for Sport to suspend the Serie A season from next week.
“We all have families, so naturally there are concerns. It’s difficult to pretend nothing is happening. It’s difficult to deal with some situations, as we could raise our voices, but it’s a delicate scenario.
“We are all human beings, we have loved ones and I hope the decisions are ultimately made to protect everyone, without distinction. The authorities will make the decisions, we can only accept their suggestions.”