Darmian after his vital goal: "We’re a bit closer to our objective"

MILAN - Have you ever seen when kids score at the playground or park? Their first instinctive reaction is to run away with their arms aloft shouting “goal”. Watch again as Matteo Darmian celebrated as though he was still a kid at school. It’s not his job to score goals but, just as he did against Cagliari, he scored the winner after the same teammate – Hakimi – provided another assist in almost the same minute. He fired the ball home and ran off with his arms aloft in a display of infinite joy, before the whole bench ran to join the celebrations. 

It was either destiny or simply a case of being the right person at the right time. It hadn’t been easy to find a way through, but Matteo did it with a low right-footed shot that was enough to beat Silvestri and secure three points. It was Darmian’s third league goal of the season and fourth overall. 

After the match, he spoke to DAZN and Inter TV: “We knew that it would be difficult today, Verona are a tough side who play man against man and good football to boot. Today, the result was the most important thing, and we picked up three massive points which bring us closer to our goal. 

“I’m happy to have scored another decisive goal, we train for this. It went well and we’re all happy. We work hard all week to be ready for the Coach. It’s only right that in such a long and tough season everyone feels important. I can feel the trust of the Coach and that of my teammates, which makes everything easier. Hakimi played a great ball to me after the one against Cagliari, and I tried to return the favour in Naples...

“It’s nice to help the team reach its objectives. It wasn’t our best game, but the three points matter at this stage. There are still a few games to go and we need to focus on ourselves.”