ROME - Live from the Circolo Aniene in Rome for the annual award ceremony of the USSI [Italian Sports Press Union], Andrea Stramaccioni spoke to Mattina Sport on Rai Sport 1. The Nerazzurri coach explained: "For the situation I found when I arrived at Inter, reaching Europe was the minimum objective. Maybe the wins for Udinese and Napoli yesterday made our defeat to Lazio slightly less bitter because the true difference would have been in reaching third or fourth place. Now the season is over and we're all focused – the players and the president – on working to get Inter back to the place in the standings we deserve."
Stramaccioni then commented on Giampaolo Pazzini's exclusion from Italy's Euro 2012 squad: "Prandelli made his best evaluations just as I do myself. I'm sorry for him, because he's one of my players and I feel a bond with him. But we respect the coach's choices."
Regarding his future on the Inter bench, Stramaccioni reiterated that "we'll leave these kinds of comments to the president because that's his territory. Some people have suggested Moratti doesn't want to invest much in the squad for the future? Not as far as I know. In spite of how it might sometimes seem, he has clear ideas on how to return Inter to greatness. Yesterday there was also a lot of bitterness over the defeat, but there's also the desire to start again right away as Inter should, by challenging for important objectives."
Stramaccioni continued: "President Moratti confirmed to the press that I'll still be here, but my timing was a bit different. What I had stated well in advance, and as an Interista it irritated me a bit, was that feeling that Inter had three different plans in mind based on how they would finish in the league. But that was never the case; Inter have a clear plan and obviously the president has the right to make it known when, where and how he chooses. Will I still be the Inter coach? Yesterday I was on the bench with Inter and now we have a tour in Indonesia. But I repeat that it's the president's decision to make."
The season will start earlier than normal, but Stramaccioni is making no excuses: "I tend to go against the current a bit. It would have come down to a week or 10 days of difference between a fifth or sixth-place finish. If I'm not mistaken AC Milan will begin pre-season around 9 or 10 July and play in the Champions League. These are petty differences that don't matter. We're interested in the Europa League. Atletico Madrid started in the first round of preliminaries and won it, and so can we."
Stramaccioni's last comment was on Juventus' Scudetto success: "Juventus had the final word on the pitch this season. And in a calm and sporting manner we send them our congratulations, hoping that Inter will return to those positions as soon as possible."
