Samir Handanovic insists the 3-2 Europa League Final defeat to Sevilla is ‘a starting point and Inter hope to play many more of these games’ in future.
The Nerazzurri had the perfect start, Romelu Lukaku converting a penalty after five minutes, but Luuk de Jong’s brace of headers turned it around and Diego Godin got it back to 2-2.
Samir Handanovic insists the 3-2 Europa League Final defeat to Sevilla is ‘a starting point and Inter hope to play many more of these games’ in future.
The Nerazzurri had the perfect start, Romelu Lukaku converting a penalty after five minutes, but Luuk de Jong’s brace of headers turned it around and Diego Godin got it back to 2-2.
However, a Diego Carlos bicycle-kick was probably going wide until Lukaku accidentally prodded it into his own net for the 3-2 final result.
“Great disappointment, but we must go forward. As I said yesterday, this is a starting point and we hope to play many more of these games,” the goalkeeper told Sky Sport Italia.
Inter hadn’t been in a major European Final since 2010, while no Italian club had reached the Final since it was called the UEFA Cup with Parma in 1999.
“It’d be easy to point to various things that went wrong, but we had a big chance with Lukaku and it could’ve been a different game there,” continued Handanovic.
“We were two very open and attacking teams. We should’ve held the ball better in the second half, as I think they were more tired and we had more fuel in the tank.
“It was unfortunate the third goal, as it was going wide and it just hit Romelu’s foot, so that was bad luck and ultimately decided the match.
“We can build on the solid foundations for next season. Sevilla showed themselves to be once again very tough to beat and we can learn from the experience.”