Conte: "We're happy with the win, in recent games we’ve deserved more"

MILAN – In the Monday night fixture on matchday 32 in Serie A, Inter secured all three points with a comeback victory over Torino. It was a deserved victory for the Nerazzurri, who went behind in the 18th minute following Andrea Belotti's fortuitous opener. However, in the second half they came back stronger, and goals from Young, Godin and Lautaro sealed the win.

“I think that the boys started the game really well,” the Nerazzurri Coach observed. “We were dominating every aspect of the game. But then there was that corner and unfortunately we’re paying dearly for every mistake we make at the moment. It’s a shame: today it was our captain, Handanovic, who messed up, and he rarely gets it wrong. But this is typical of how things are going at the minute, as we often receive a punishment that is out of proportion with any mistake that we make.

“I’ve seen the stats: we had more than 60% possession, 20 shots on goal and dominated the game. This shows just how well the boys played, because conceding early on could have made us nervous and caused us problems psychologically. The boys did well to stay calm and continue doing what we’d practised on the training ground. Today Diego Godin became our 18th scorer of the season, and I’m really pleased for him. What these numbers show is that we have a range of options in attack.

“It’s important to raise morale and create a sense of certainty, especially for the players. The work that we’re doing at the minute is important, and it’s inevitable that our efforts will be rewarded with success on the pitch. When we don’t get the win, it’s really frustrating, especially because recently – as I’ve said already – we’ve been punished excessively. But we’re on the right path: we’re playing aggressive football, taking control of games, and plenty of players are threatening in the opposition area.”

Discussing his future at Inter, the Coach clarified: “I was brought to Inter as part of a project, and it’s my job to bring this Club back to where it deserves to be, and that means we need to get back to winning ways. I arrived here with great enthusiasm, I’ve got faith in the Club, and the Club has faith in me. We’re following a path, and I’m well aware that at times in my career I’ve had quick success, but it’s normal for these things to take a bit of time. There’s a desire to create something important, this is an ambitious Club and we’re all in this together, all working towards the same goal.

“Eriksen? Christian is working hard, when we came back after lockdown he showed up with a good attitude. He needs to try and maintain this level. At the moment, we need to keep a bit of balance, so I think it's natural to make decisions for the good of the squad. Christian understood that Inter are an ambitious team and that there are high expectations in Italy.”

It was another big performance from Alexis: “In him, we have characteristics that are a bit different, because he finds gaps in the defence. He likes to pick up the ball between the lines, he gets a lot of assists and creates a lot of chances going forward. He's doing well now, we're happy. We expected a lot from him, and he still has room for improvement. Lukaku and Lautaro have been our lifeline, but we mustn't forget that we had to make do without Alexis for months. I would've liked to have him earlier, as now we have the chance to rotate our attackers. This allows us to use different options throughout a game, something which we haven't had yet this season.”