KIEV - He didn't have much of a voice left after Inter's dramatic comeback in Kiev, but José Mourinho's expression spoke volumes about his satisfaction at the great job done by his staff and the team. "We had character and personality," the Inter coach told Rai Sport. "Everyone likes talking about tactics, about substitutions, but I prefer to talk about the man, the group, the character and the personality. We made a few tactical changes at the interval, but the required message arrived: you can't cry after the match, if you have to do it, you do it on the pitch. That's where you have to leave everything you have. You have to finish the match knowing that you have done everything. This team, with nails, teeth and heart left everything on the pitch and deserved to win.
"Dynamo Kiev showed they have quality. They play very fast football and come forward with very intense counter-attacks. Ours is a very difficult group. Just look at the equilibrium. After four matches all four teams can finish the group in first, second or third place. This can be a starting point for a quality Champions League. I think that three points will be enough for us to qualify. We have two games to do it, one of them at home and the Stadio Meazza should be full to the brim."
José Mourinho retook his place on the bench a long time before his players came out for the second half. "I talked about the tactical changes," he explained. "I though that Stankovic and Motta could keep the equilibrium in midfield. I got into the hearts of the players, into their fear of making mistakes and their fear of losing the match. Who plays football must always play with passion and emotion without being scared of losing. This was a match of great tension for our opponents as well because with a win they could have been first with seven points, but when Valery Gazzaev brought off Milevskiy I knew I could play with three defenders and risk with a man less at the back. If it had gone worse for us, you would have criticised me and called me crazy. We can talk about luck because we scored in the last five minutes, but we could have talked about bad luck if we hadn't scored."
Mourinho continued his post-match analysis on Sky Sport: "The team gave a fantastic performance. They put heart, emotion, desire to win and great unity on the pitch. We played a second half to remember. We went into this clash occupying last place in the group. Now we are top. This victory will give great morale to the team and I hope it's the same for our fans. I would be very disappointed if there weren't seventy thousand fans in the stands for the decisive group game at home to Rubin Kazan. We will try to get points against Barcelona and it will be an important match to see which teams can qualify for the last sixteen. In the last match against Rubin we will have to be eleven on the pitch and seventy thousand in the stands, and we will try to get first place."
On Inter Channel, Mourinho concluded: "I'm pleased for all my boys, for all the fans, for president Moratti who tomorrow will celebrate the one hundred years of his father, and for my daughter who celebrated her birthday today, and once again her dad wasn't with her because he was playing a match."
