MARSEILLE - "This is a defeat that really hurts because I think Inter played well tonight and a draw would have been a fairer result. Now we have the return leg at the Meazza: the tie lasts 180 minutes, they won the first 90 and now we'll go for it in Milan." The disappointment on Julio Cesar's face was clear as he commented on the Nerazzurri's last-minute defeat to Marseille at the Stade Vélodrome, but he was already looking ahead to what could be.
"This is the first time I've found myself in a situation as tough as this," the Nerazzurri keeper continued. "I've never known anything like it since I joined Inter. We need to show a lot of character, a lot of strength to come through it. You get moments like this in life and you need to maintain confidence in your own ability to get going again, without forgetting all the good things that you've done. We must get ourselves out of this by sticking together, through hard work. And if we look on the bright side, even after all these defeats we can still get third place; that's the minimum obligation for us. The same goes in the Champions League: we have 90 minutes available and we hope to go through."
It's a particularly tough moment for those who have tasted nothing but success since they began wearing the Nerazzurri colours: "It's true, I had a few moments like this when I was in Brazil and we were battling to avoid relegation. It is a difficult period but as I said we're still in the mix. We have to stay strong because when things go well everything is easy: training, playing... In moments as these we must unite and my team-mates are like a second family to me. That's how we'll pull ourselves out of it. I can understand the fans; my son is the first one who keeps asking me to start winning again."
