Inter coach Antonio Conte spoke to Italian broadcaster Sky Sport Italia moments after the Nerazzurri defeated Hellas Verona 2-1 in the Serie A at the San Siro.
“The strategy is to try to come out stronger and stronger, today was an important answer after the loss against Dortmund despite the fact that we were playing against a team that built a wall in front of their goal.”
“After the goal they were defending and counter attacking but we were good not to lose our patience and to maintain an exceptional desire to fight against this negative result and to overturn it.”
“The guys are doing something important, 31 points in 12 games is a nice feat, but I give a big thank you to these guys because they played their hearts out after a big disappointment in Dortmund.”
“We had the game in our hands but it’s part of our maturing to win in this way. Playing great and putting Verona on the ropes means that there is something to build from, now we work to improve. There are many youngsters who can only grow, something good is being created.”
The 50-year-old Italian coach then touched on Inter’s rise to the top of the league table and tomorrow’s league clash between Juventus and AC Milan.
“We’re happy to have attained 31 points, even in the most optimistic forecasts we wouldn’t have expected that. Thanks to these guys who are working well, we played a lot of games in a few days, if we hadn’t given everything today, we wouldn’t have won.”
“Congratulations to them and I dedicate the win to my daughter Vittoria, who turns 12 today. Looking forward to winning and celebrating more peacefully with my family.”
“Now there’s a break and this must give us enthusiasm and morale and help us understand that we are on the right track. These guys are giving me everything and I’m really happy to coach them.”
Finally, Conte discussed the differences between tonight’s victory and this week’s 3-2 loss to Borussia Dortmund.
“Within a few days we played two completely different games because Dortmund were pushing hard and we could have space to attack, but today it was difficult because they were defending with a 7-3 formation letting us play in their area.”
“We had to be patient, position ourselves well and give width to the outside. I think it was important to have Bastoni in the second half, he became like another midfielder by entering their defence and made their man-marking difficult. He also took shots.”
“There’s still work to be done but I’m happy because it was difficult, they go all-out and you have to be good at being patient and not suffering from counter attacks.”
“We reacted after the Dortmund defeat and it’s another sign of our psychological growth. Our fans understood that we wanted to win, and they pushed us to the end.”
“Now we relax for a moment but are happy to have given everything in these seven games. It’s a shame about Dortmund but we’ll treasure everything, every step, even the negative ones, must be used to grow.”
