APPIANO GENTILE - "Personally, I'm always optimistic. While there's hope you've always got to try. 2-0 is doable, we're playing against a strong side but we can come back." This was how Roberto Mancini opened up his news conference to motivate his players ahead of Inter v Wolfsburg tomorrow night in the second leg of the UEFA Europa League last-16 tie.
"As a team we need a big night that would give us belief for the next 11 league games," said the coach. "I wasn't downbeat on Sunday, I was just really gutted for the lads. It's only natural you have ups and downs but the only way to improve is via hard work. The team always gives everything in training and that's why I'm still optimistic. I'm very happy at Inter and I want to stay here to build a winning team."
Mancini listed three reasons to keep the faith with regards to qualification: "First, all of Inter's European triumphs have coincided with big comebacks. Second, sooner or later we'll have a night where we don't make mistakes and everything runs like clockwork. And finally, because the lads really want to go through. Anything can happen in a game of football, we have to use our heads, not be hurried and avoid affording Wolfsburg too much space as they could hurt us on the break. But it won't be easy for them either."
Finally, some team news: "Kovacic is a young player and I hope he can experience a big night if he plays. That could be crucial at his age, it would really help him a lot. We won't take any risks with Shaqiri. We still have 24 hours to assess his fitness. He's doing quite well despite the results of the ultrasound. We'll see over the next few hours."
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