Conte: "I can only thank my lads"

ROME – The match between Roma and Inter finished in a draw at the Olimpico. After taking the lead through de Vrij, the Nerazzurri were dealt a double blow following goals from Spinazzola and Mkhitaryan, but Lukaku’s late penalty ensured that Inter came away with a share of the spoils.

It’s a result that secures the Nerazzurri’s spot in next season’s Champions League: “The team are doing excellent things. In addition to being second in the league, we’ve qualified for the Champions League well in advance: we’re 14 points ahead of other sides that had the same objectives as us for the season,” said Antonio Conte. “The league is becoming increasingly competitive and we’re often unfairly put under the microscope, but it's only normal that we need to get used to handling being in a certain position in the table. We need to work hard and continue to grow in order to manage the pressure, using our experience in the right way.

“This team’s statistics are impressive: we’ve only lost four matches, while we also have the best defence and second best attack. I think that our fans can be proud, also because it takes time to build something big. I can’t criticise the lads, we produced a good display against an excellent side in great shape this evening. I can only thank the group, let’s not forget that our calendar has inevitably caused us problems given that we’ve almost always had one less day to recover than our opponents. Furthermore, we’ve constantly played at 21:45. We’ll now return to base late at night and have very little time to prepare for our match against Fiorentina, who, as luck has it, played today. But this has been a rare occurrence, and an extra day’s rest makes the difference during this current period.”

The Coach also spoke about Roma’s equaliser, with Di Bello judging Kolarov’s challenge on Lautaro Martinez to be a fair one after an on-field review: “The referees are also under pressure. For me, the situation was clear, but I don’t want to go into detail. Referees can also make mistakes, Di Bello refereed the game the way he did and I have maximum respect for him. Conceding just before half-time inevitably changed the atmosphere, it unsettled us. We need to learn how to manage such moments and when decisions go against us.”