Federico Dimarco wants ‘respect’ for Inter’s campaign and will not make Scudetto plans yet, but does confirm the Alessandro Bastoni push from centre-back is ‘practiced.’
The Nerazzurri had a disappointing week, first losing the first leg lead for a 2-1 defeat to Atletico Madrid and eventual Champions League exit on penalties, then pegged back for a 1-1 Serie A draw by Napoli at San Siro.
“We had the right approach in the first half, but did not make the most of our scoring opportunities. After the break, the fatigue from Madrid set in and we conceded a disappointing goal,” Dimarco told DAZN.
“We had lots of chances to score against Atletico Madrid too and didn’t kill off the game, but we leave the competition with heads held high against very strong opponents.
“Let us not forget we are talking about the Champions of Italy, they are back to playing the kind of football they had under Luciano Spalletti. Respect is needed for these teams.”
Their lead at the top of the Serie A table has been sliced down to 14 points by Milan, but they remain the runaway leaders with now only nine rounds left to play. Have Inter calculated when they could be crowned champions?
“I learned over the years it doesn’t pay to make calculations, you just have to take it one game at a time. Inter must show maturity, because at times this season we lost intensity, even if we ended up winning. We’ve got to keep working and I am sure a draw won’t stop the great things we are doing this term.”
Bastoni provided another assist today, this time for Matteo Darmian, so is it not unusual that the central defender is regularly pushing so far up the left flank?
“These are movements we practice in training and fortunately they seem to work in the match situation too.”
There was some controversy this evening, as Napoli defender Juan Jesus was caught on camera telling the referee that Francesco Acerbi had used a racist term.
Juan Jesus later told DAZN that Acerbi had apologised and they put it behind them.
“I didn’t see what happened, but they are grown-ups and have already cleared the air between them,” noted Dimarco when pressed on the incident.
It was particularly galling to see that on the weekend when all the Serie A players and coaches are wearing ‘Keep Racism Out’ stickers.