Simone Inzaghi admits he was ‘worried’ about facing Jose Mourinho’s Roma, but Inter can’t rest on their laurels now after leapfrogging Milan. ‘Nothing is achieved yet, it’s all still to be done.’
As things stand, Inter are top of the table with a one-point lead over Milan and both sides have currently played 33 games.
That’s because the Rossoneri visit Lazio tomorrow evening, while the Nerazzurri play their game in hand against Bologna on Wednesday.
It was surprisingly easy to sweep Jose Mourinho’s Roma aside at San Siro with Denzel Dumfries, Marcelo Brozovic and Lautaro Martinez, until the late Henrikh Mkhitaryan consolation strike.
“I am above all proud of the concentration from my men, as I was worried it was three days after the Coppa Italia derby against a side that was unbeaten in 12 rounds, with great players in good form,” Inzaghi told DAZN.
“We needed a top-level performance and the players absolutely gave me that.”
Lautaro Martinez had been in crisis for a couple of months, but can’t seem to stop scoring at the moment.
“He just needed goals, that’s all. It was never a problem for me, there was a period when he didn’t score, but he was always in the right positions. He rested occasionally, as did everyone, he’s doing well now and needs to continue like that.”
Roma man-marked Brozovic and tried to neutralise their midfield, yet the Croatia international still managed to find the net for the second time this season.
“Roma took the game to us, they were marking Brozovic and De Vrij, while in the second half they freed up Skriniar. We needed to give our best, the lads recovered so quickly from the Coppa Italia and it was a fifth straight win, but still nothing is achieved yet.
“We have this midweek rescheduled match against Bologna, it’s all still to be done. It is an intense run, we also reached the Coppa Italia Final, so we need to balance out the physical and psychological energies during this period.
“We want to face them all with heads held high and chests puffed up.”
Dumfries and Ivan Perisic were again heavily involved in the attacking moves, a different approach perhaps to the one Antonio Conte had last season.
“We knew Roma were very aggressive marking out strikers, so there would be room for our wing-backs to attack the space. Dumfries was fresh, after Darmian had a great game against Milan, while Gosens is getting into shape now too. They will all have their chance.”
Inevitably, the Derby d’Italia win away to Juventus seems like a turning point in Inter’s season.
“We needed a victory at that moment. I said that game was arriving at the right time, because the results weren’t coming, even though the performances were still strong.
“We followed that win with another four, did really well and we want to keep that momentum going.”
What did Mourinho say to Inzaghi after the final whistle?
“We wished each other luck. Mourinho is a special coach, he is always very kind. Before the Coppa Italia game, we sat together for 45 minutes, as we’d never really met before. He is a wonderful person to talk about football with.”
Inzaghi: “Scudetto? Le ultime partite un gran segnale. Mou speciale, ecco cosa serviva a Lautaro”. Su Lazio-Milan… https://t.co/90ZD4boxps
— FcInterNews.it (@FcInterNewsit) April 23, 2022