TURIN - "This year we just can't seem to get on board the right train... The regret is for having a very good hour of play and having let in a goal on a set piece. The umpteenth lapse in concentration, leaving Caceres alone and free. Then we didn't have the strength to fight back," explained Claudio Ranieri regarding what happened at the Juventus Stadium tonight where the Bianconeri won 2-0.
The coach spoke of the mood after this defeat, which keeps the Nerazzurri stuck on 41 points: "I'm disappointed because it was a lovely and vibrant match against a Juve team that is deserving of what it's accomplishing. I'm very satisfied for the first hour of play and equally sorry for the way we conceded the goal. The first hour of play must give us the strength to finish the season in the best way. If you look at the table you see the difference between them and us, and if you watched the first hour of play tonight you didn't see this difference. Based on this we have the moral and professional obligation to continue giving our all. We have to keep trying until the last minute of play. We cannot ever give up. In sports you have these kinds of years. You have to accept that, but without ever letting it get to you."
The disappointment was evident, also due to the fact that the team had shown so well in the first hour of play: "Yes, we had studied this match well and the lads carried it out well, but we're talking only about an hour of play. Then we lost our lucidity, and at the first misfortune the lads faded unfortunately. After the first goal our desire was sapped. And then Buffon was truly excellent tonight. That corner really changed a lot; until that point we had tested Juve, who were saved by Buffon."
The discussion then turned to the substitutions, which Ranieri explained in this way: "Faraoni and Pazzini coming on? I had seen that Obi was beginning to have problems and Poli had been booked."
Then came the inevitable talk of third place, which is ever further away: "No more chance of making it? We must fight and think game by game. Of course, winning here would have given us a boost. But it's back to work because on Sunday there's already another game."
His final words were devoted to his personal state of mind, and then the Primavera team's accomplishment from this afternoon in London: "I feel relaxed, because we know that we're doing the best we can do. A penalty in my contract? Make-believe. I'd be the first coach to have such a thing. It's all make-believe. Congratulations to the Primavera team, to Stramaccioni and to all the youngsters. They truly had a great tournament. Inserting them into the first team? We mustn't forget that in difficult times we risk them getting burned out. But I've never backed out of these things, and therefore if young players are needed at Inter we're not short of them."
