MILAN – It's not all doom and gloom for Javier Zanetti. Of course it's not the result Inter would have wished for but there are positives to be drawn from this game. "We had a reaction, a response following our Champions League exit. We gave away very little but sadly we've been penalised by the result, as we only picked up one point. It's disappointing but now we need to look forward and prepare for our game against Juve.
"The game was one-sided, it was all Inter," continued Zanetti. "Their game was based entirely around counter-attacks, while we created chances to win the game but we didn't finish them."
One of these chances saw the captain involved as he marauded forward, which for a moment offered hope, belief. "It was a nice run, beginning from my own half, then I nutmegged a player and gave it to Zarate. It's a shame the ball didn't end up in the back of the net."
The captain then paused to reflect on the performance of the Nerazzurri youngsters, discussing first Andrea Poli and then Joel Obi. "They're becoming more consistent, they're showing their ability. I thought Obi was excellent today, and he and Nagatomo were a threat to the Atalanta defence. They are the future, they still have to improve but they're coming along well."
Thoughts now turn to the next game, against Juventus, with a whole week to prepare, something which will be the case between now and the end of the season as Inter are out of the cup competitions. "It's a plus that we have more time to prepare for the game, but we didn't want to be in this situation."
