MILAN – "It felt fantastic today. I hadn't played a full 90 minutes for nine months, it was a long time coming. At the end I left the pitch a bit angry because of the goal we conceded that we shouldn't have, but at the same time I'm pleased with the way the whole team played." After finally getting out on the pitch again, Ivan Ramiro Cordoba told Inter Channel how he felt about returning against Genoa after a long wait.
"It wasn't easy to remain focused after a game like the derby, which takes a lot of mental energy out of you," the defender continued. "Sometimes your concentration can drop, but we put in another good performance today with players like myself who don't play as much as others. I'm happy for the youngsters too and it shows they can be counted on at any time."
The team's metamorphosis? Cordoba replied: "We all think along the same lines and we were always convinced we'd pull ourselves out of that difficult period, but it could only happen through hard work: that, along with the quality in this team, was always going to pay off. Ranieri has done a great job in these months and now we are concentrated and want to go all the way."
The Coppa Italia was the first trophy the Colombian defender raised in an Inter shirt: "It's very important to us and we've always honoured this competition down the years."
