Coppa Italia, Conte: "We've paid the price for our mistakes in the first leg"

TURIN – Inter have once again fallen at the semi-final stage of the Coppa Italia. After their 2-1 defeat to Juventus at San Siro, the Nerazzurri were unable to overturn the first-leg deficit in the return fixture, with tonight’s match in Turin finishing in a 0-0 stalemate.

This is what Antonio Conte had to say to Rai Sport after the game:

What were Inter missing?"We undoubtedly needed to make the most of the many chances we created over the course of 180 minutes. I think that we saw two teams that fought it out until the very end, but we’ve unfortunately paid the price for gifting them goals in the first leg. We were aiming to score immediately because we knew that this could have caused Juventus problems. We tried to turn things around tonight but weren’t able to. We need to learn from our mistakes and bounce back."

Is Lukaku on edge following what happened in the Derby with Ibrahimovic?"We shouldn’t forget the fact that we were involved in a difficult match this evening against a side like Juventus, who have excellent players. Romelu hasn’t been at his very best in the last few matches but once again gave his all today. Players can have moments where they’re not in tip-top form. He remains a very important player for us."

Were you expecting more from Eriksen?"I think that Christian played his part. We wanted to have two playmakers with him and Brozovic, and we managed to cause Juventus problems in this regard because we took the game to them. I’m pleased with what he showed."

Is Inter’s objective now to win the Scudetto?"We try to work as hard as possible and always look up. We would have liked to do well in the Champions League, and we’ve once again gone out at the semi-final stage of the Coppa Italia for a second consecutive year. We’ll continue to work to try to be where we would like to be, but we aren’t there yet. The important thing is that Inter have regained credibility and have started to strike fear into opponents again."

What role could Sensi play in the team?"Stefano has to find his confidence again. Unfortunately, he’s had a rough year with lots of bad luck. I’m trying to help him get his confidence back out on the pitch because it’s normal to lose it a bit when things like this happen."

Was something also missing from Lautaro this evening?             "I’ll say it again, we played against a good side tonight. We came here to take the game to them and show character in the process. Not everyone can do this, and of course getting knocked out is tough. However, with regards to our performance, I can’t have many complaints. Of course, we could’ve done better in front of goal, but when I talk about the path we’re going down I’m referring to this too. Lautaro is young, he has room to improve and is in his second season as a starter in Serie A. We can’t expect him to solve our problems, we must work together as a team and not lay the blame at the feet of individual players."