Simone Inzaghi credits Milan for winning the Scudetto after a ‘wonderful duel’ all season long, but feels ‘proud’ at amassing 84 Serie A points and lifting two trophies.
It was nonetheless a successful campaign, winning the Coppa Italia and the Supercoppa Italiana, but they did not retain the Serie A title.
They pushed it to the final game of the season, beating Sampdoria 3-0 this evening with a Joaquin Correa double and Ivan Perisic, but Milan’s 3-0 victory away to Sassuolo proved decisive.
Serie A | Inter 3-0 Sampdoria: Victory not enough to retain title
“The main sentiment is pride, I think, with the way the fans welcomed us to the stadium today and their final applause too,” Inzaghi told DAZN.
“I congratulate the squad on an excellent season that could’ve been extraordinary with the Scudetto. I congratulate Milan on reaching 86 points, but also congratulate us, because 84 is nothing to be sniffed at. I am proud of this squad, we did great things, as did Milan.”
Inzaghi was asked what Milan had more than Inter at the end of the day.
“Two points. They were also more consistent towards the end of the season. As for us, we lost ground during the double Champions League clash with Liverpool, but 84 points is still a lot. Over the next few days, we’ll analyse what more we could’ve done.
“Obviously, we are Inter, we won two trophies, but there is still a bitter taste in the mouth at the way we let the Scudetto get away. We must try to whittle down that two-point gap between us and Milan next season.
“It was a long journey, a positive one, but I cannot deny nobody likes to finish second.”
Stefano Pioli has won the first piece of silverware in his entire career, and of course Inzaghi took over at Lazio after Pioli was fired.
“It was a wonderful duel, we faced off four times between Serie A and the Coppa Italia, we challenged for the Scudetto to the end. Credit to Milan.”
President Steven Zhang was in the stands at San Siro this evening, so a summit is planned to discuss the strategy for next season.
“We will meet over the next few days and discuss it with cool heads. We need to do things right, because these fans deserve more joy.”
Inzaghi inherited the Scudetto winning side from Antonio Conte, but few expected him to do this well.
“The greatest satisfaction was going from the predictions we’d finish outside the top four to the same people saying we’d have the Scudetto sealed up by January. Since I arrived, the opinion on Inter has changed and that is thanks to our work.”