Inzaghi: "Very pleased with these players"

LUGANO – Simone Inzaghi praised the performance of his fledgling squad after they beat Lugano on penalties in their first friendly outing of the season.

With most of the international players still on holiday, the team was bolstered by lots of academy youngsters for Inzaghi's first match in charge.

“I knew it was going to be a difficult friendly but the lads handled it really well,” the coach told Inter TV after the final whistle at the Stadio Cornaredo.

“We found ourselves two goals behind but we stayed in it. We responded superbly considering the limited options we have. I'm very pleased with them.

“We kept trying to win it right up to the end. I'm happy with their reaction and the way they held up – lots of them had to play 90 minutes straight away.

“Little by little we'll introduce the new players as they arrive. [Stefan] De Vrij and [Marcelo] Brozovic will be back in the next few days. The club is doing a great job and we'll be ready to go by 22 August.

“It would be wonderful if we could celebrate with our fans welcoming the champions on the opening day, after a year and a half with empty stadiums. The support they give us makes such a difference, as we saw tonight.”

The boss also spared some words of praise for the Primavera youngsters bolstering the ranks in this initial stage of pre-season.

“They're doing a great job but I knew they'd be up to it because Inter have fantastic academy. They need to keep it up though because we're going to need them until August at least.”