Simone Inzaghi praises his Inter side for their 2-0 Coppa Italia quarter-final victory over Roma, but insists they cannot ‘control the game’ for 90 minutes.
The Nerazzurri made up for Saturday’s Serie A defeat to Milan by coming out swinging in this quarter-final, Edin Dzeko’s cushioned volley on an Ivan Perisic cross within 90 seconds.
Although the Giallorossi fought back, Alexis Sanchez sealed the result with a stunning long-range strike into the far top corner.
Now Inter will face either Milan or Lazio in the two-legged semi-final.
Coppa Italia | Inter 2-0 Roma: Dzeko and Alexis Sanchez ruin Mourinho’s return
“The lads did really well, as it was not an easy game. Roma are a quality side with an excellent squad, we controlled the game well and deserved this semi-final, knowing that we were coming off a bad setback at the weekend,” Inzaghi told Sport Mediaset.
“I congratulated the lads, because in two-and-a-half-days being able to prepare for a match like this was really impressive.”
There was also bad news, as just before the break Alessandro Bastoni fell awkwardly and badly sprained his right ankle.
“We hope Bastoni doesn’t have anything serious, unfortunately you could see he fell badly. Now the medics will have the tests and we hope not to lose him for too long, as he is a very, very important player for us.”
Similar to the derby on Saturday, Inter seemed to take their foot off the gas in the second half and risked allowing an equaliser from Roma.
“We are trying to control the game, but when you are up against opponents like Roma, Milan, Napoli and Liverpool, you have to assume there are going to be moments when you are under pressure and we did well holding out in that situation tonight, as I saw few dangers.”
Perisic provided the assist for the opening goal, but his contract is up on June 30, so can Inter afford to lose him for free?
“I think Perisic is a player who since the start of the season has been playing at a very high level. Inter are top of the Serie A table and got through the Champions League group stage, reached the Coppa Italia semi-final, so I can only be happy.
“We know there are some tough games coming up, but we wanted this semi-final with all our strength and we achieved it against a strong Roma side.”
🗣 Le parole del mister dopo il 2-0 di San Siro 👇⚫🔵https://t.co/70HFVrW87l
— FcInterNews.it (@FcInterNewsit) February 8, 2022
Lets hope Milan comes in semifinal!
Exactly alll that matters now is facing Milan again even Liverpool is not important even tho I think it’ll be two great matches eventually Liverpool will go through.I hope Milan scrap a win against Lazio just so Inter can have revenge against them.