Stefan de Vrij insists Inter showed they have “determination, hunger and character,” while he’ll hold the memories of his Milan Derby goal “forever.”
The Rossoneri had gone 2-0 up by half-time, but Marcelo Brozovic, Matias Vecino, De Vrij and Romelu Lukaku turned it around to win 4-2.
Stefan de Vrij insists Inter showed they have “determination, hunger and character,” while he’ll hold the memories of his Milan Derby goal “forever.”
The Rossoneri had gone 2-0 up by half-time, but Marcelo Brozovic, Matias Vecino, De Vrij and Romelu Lukaku turned it around to win 4-2.
“We are very happy with the victory, with the character we showed in the second half. We did badly in the first half, Milan deserved the lead and we weren’t really ourselves,” the defender told Sky Sport Italia.
“However, we came out fighting after the break, immediately scored two goals and you could see that our mentality had changed.
“We ran into difficulties, but we proved our strength not just in our football, but also our character. These are all talented players, but a game like this requires something else, determination, hunger, character, and we proved we’ve got those elements too.”
De Vrij scored the goal to go 3-2 up with a remarkable diving header that looped up behind him into the far top corner.
“I realised afterwards that it was in the goal! I saw the ball coming, when I turned around, I saw the ball was in the net and it was an incredible feeling. I scored in the derby last year too, these are memories you will have forever.”
Inter struggled to deal with Zlatan Ibrahimovic in the first half, as his headers set up one goal and scored another.
“Ibrahimovic has proved himself in his career, we knew he would be a tough opponent and we had the utmost respect. He’s so strong physically, good in the air, but the problem was we weren’t solid enough and Milan put players between the lines.”
Inter are now joint top of the table with Juventus on 54 points, followed by Lazio on 53, but next weekend it’s Lazio-Inter at the Stadio Olimpico.
“We’re all up there now, it’s a three-horse race and all three teams are in good shape. This is the kind of game everyone wants to play,” added De Vrij.