Simone Inzaghi reveals what he told Inter when they were trailing to Lazio, before the comeback to win 3-1 and revitalise their Serie A season. ‘It was one of our best performances and the team spirit is immense.’
There was so much at stake at San Siro, as not only was this a head-to-head for the top four, but also a crucial result for Napoli’s Scudetto celebrations.
It wasn’t looking good for either of them, as Lazio were leading 1-0 for much of the game through a Felipe Anderson goal, but a pair of Romelu Lukaku assists sparked the turnaround, with goals from Lautaro Martinez – twice – and Robin Gosens.
“I think it was one of our best performances in my 20 months at the club. At the end of the first half, we were trailing 1-0, but I told them to keep going like that and the result would come. We played against the team in second place, with a lot of quality, but it was a wonderful Inter today,” Inzaghi told Sky Sport Italia.
The coach had to rotate the squad too, as they beat Juventus 1-0 in the Coppa Italia semi-final on Wednesday evening.
“It was such an important match for us, there is another in 72 hours and we have to continue riding that wave. I got great signs from those who started and came off the bench, the team spirit is immense.”
Francesco Acerbi made a horrible mistake to give away the Lazio goal, but Lukaku seemed to find another gear once Lautaro Martinez came off the bench.
“I congratulated the team at half-time, I felt we did not deserve to be a goal down and had to continue like that. We needed to remain concentrated, as Lazio are dangerous on the counter-attack, and the substitutions were important too. We won a match that is fundamental for us.”
Gosens scored such an acrobatic goal at the back post that he landed in a heap and seemed to dislocate his shoulder.
“Clearly, he dislocated the shoulder and we hope that we don’t lose him, because he has been doing so well since January and alternating with Federico Dimarco. He brings intensity, I made a different decision today because I wanted to pass it around more against Lazio. We hope he won’t need to take time off, as we need everyone right now when we play every 48-72 hours.”
This result puts Inter in joint fourth with Milan and Roma on 57 points, only four adrift of second-placed Lazio.
“We are having an exciting season along with our fantastic fans, who once again cheered us on from start to finish. We know that we dropped some points in Serie A that we did not deserve to lose. Perhaps due to fatigue or a lack of sharpness, we didn’t get those results, but I am very satisfied with what we achieved in the Cup competitions, also remembering we won the Supercoppa Italiana in January.
“We have faith for the rest of the season and the many games that are coming up.”