Simone Inzaghi believes the ‘only negative’ of their 3-0 win over Lazio is that the scoreline was so low, as they gear up to defend the Supercoppa Italiana title against Napoli.
The former Lazio coach has the opportunity now to challenge for the fifth Supercoppa Italiana of his career, setting up the Final against Napoli in Riyadh on Monday at 19.00 GMT.
A 3-0 result did not reflect the extent of the domination in this semi-final, sealed by Marcus Thuram, Hakan Calhanoglu’s penalty and a late Davide Frattesi counter-attack.
They also had numerous opportunities, hitting the woodwork twice with Nicoló Barella and Lautaro Martinez.
“The lads did so well, we had a great performance, immediately had the right approach. Now we are in the Final, we must try to recover energy over two days, as it is going to be very difficult against Napoli,” Inzaghi told Mediaset.
Barella said that the squad had not had this much fun for a long time and their coach saw it the same way.
“We had never played this format before, but this is what football is like now, we have to adapt and I congratulated the lads tonight, as I really enjoyed myself watching them.
“Only being 1-0 up at half-time considering all that we had done was the only negative of the night, but eventually we won 3-0, hit the woodwork twice, so I am satisfied.”
Federico Dimarco set up the Thuram opener with a cheeky back-heel flick and seemed to be everywhere.
“Federico was excellent, but when you play against a side like Lazio, it is reductive to only look at one player. Everyone who featured did great work, as when you are 2-0 up, it can be dangerous if the opponents get one back. Instead, we kept pushing and now we must continue doing that against Napoli on Monday.”
Inter have the chance to win the Supercoppa Italiana for the third year running, at least guaranteeing some silverware after crashing out of the Coppa Italia in the Round of 16 to Bologna.
They had an extraordinary 23 shots on goal to five from Lazio, but only seven were on target to zero, plus the woodwork rattled twice.
“These lads have been doing remarkable things since July and we must always keep trying to improve, to figure out where we could’ve done better. Lazio are well-organised with an intermediary press, so that can make it difficult for us, but instead we had patience, pushed at the right times and created numerous chances.
“I will watch the game back and study it to see where we could’ve done better.”
Inzaghi: "Oggi mi sono davvero divertito, partita strepitosa. Ma si può sempre fare meglio" https://t.co/3qymGCkhiR
— La Gazzetta dello Sport (@Gazzetta_it) January 19, 2024