Spider - Man D’Ambrosio: “Our strength is the team”

EMPOLI – Spider-Man D’Ambrosio is back in style, having displayed all his finest attributes away to Empoli, from throwing his body on the line to make a crucial block to going down the other end and scoring. The former brought back memories of the defender’s incredible block in a pivotal 2-1 win against the same opposition that helped the Nerazzurri seal a Champions League berth back in May 2019.

Danilo was back in the starting line-up at the Stadio Castellani and started the contest by making a block to deny Sebastiano Luperto a certain goal. Moments later, he opened the scoring with a wonderful header to get on the scoresheet for the seventh season in a row, a feat only shared with one other defender: Leonardo Bonucci. It was D’Ambrosio’s 11th headed goal since 2012/13, which is a tally only matched by Stefan de Vrij and Gonzalo Rodriguez.

The 33-year-old described his contribution to Inter TV and Sky Sport, including his celebration which involved running over to the Inter dugout, in particular to Denzel Dumfries: “There are players who might find it hard to settle in because they’ve just arrived, but we don’t think about ‘I’ here, we think about ‘we’. We have reached a final and won the Scudetto in two years. That’s our strength here as a team.

“We have to just focus on ourselves. We also started similarly last year. We need to strike the right balance. We have some top players up front who can make the difference. We have to give the club credit for the way it’s managed things in the dugout and among the players. The change in mentality is clear for all to see. When Conte took over, there was a change that we’re trying to continue with, while adding Inzaghi’s brilliant ideas to the mix. I think we’re on the right path.

“I always work hard and my career does the talking for me. I make sure I’m ready and the stats show if I’ve done well. I try to give my all in defence and when I get forward in attack, sometimes I manage to score. Alexis set me up with an exceptional cross tonight. 

“It was also important not to concede, which reflects a trend seen in recent games because against Sheriff and Juve, we gave very little away and only conceded goals through set-pieces.”