Spalletti: 'Inter are so lucky...'

By Football Italia staff

Luciano Spalletti mocked the idea of Inter being lucky after the 3-2 victory over Sampdoria, explaining his substitutions and joking with Fabio Quagliarella.

“What gives me a strong emotional response is the behaviour of the team. You don’t get results without a strong team. Tonight was a good performance, so I am happy, above all for them, as they deserve to have this attention on them because they are great professionals,” the Coach told Mediaset Premium.

The Nerazzurri had dominated and gone 3-0 up through Milan Skriniar and a Mauro Icardi brace, but also hit the woodwork three times with Icardi and Ivan Perisic (twice).

“We were lucky tonight, really lucky. A couple of shots could’ve gone out for throw-ins, but the fact a gust of wind brought the ball on to the woodwork gives you the excuse to say we were unlucky this time.

“It was a great performance, it’s not as if we only played for 60-70 minutes. It was a great performance. If the players keep that focus, then it can happen for a 50-50 ball to go their way and with the talent of Quagliarella or Caprari, they can score a goal. That’s all normal.”

Spalletti was asked why summer signings Dalbert and Joao Cancelo have barely featured so far.

“Davide Santon is coming back to the player we knew. Dalbert will become an excellent player, but still needs to get to know the mechanisms of the team.

“I made the change with Santon rather than Dalbert because I needed someone good in the air. Sampdoria are physically strong and scored on a set play, so I needed to hold up the ball more.

“I haven’t used Eder enough for the quality he deserves and that disappoints me. Joao Mario is a talent, but hasn’t trained as well as before due to that injury.

“Joao Cancelo had that knee sprain and when he gets to the by-line to cross, he feels that twinge, as that’s what the collateral ligament does. Putting him as a full-back is unfair, as he can’t go into tackles while feeling like that.

“We had to find the soul of a team, as last year you said all sorts of things about the side, so to get them to feel that confidence, they need to play together for a certain amount of time. There’s no need to invent anything.

“Every time we step on to the field, we must find the way to win. Not search for it, but find it.”

Quagliarella scored at the 85th minute to set up a tense finale and Spalletti joked with the veteran striker.

“I told Quagliarella he was a pain in the butt… I already saw him in the pre-match interview and knew he’d cause us trouble. That’s always the way with him.”

At the final whistle, Spalletti stormed over to the Sampdoria bench wagging his finger before warmly embracing the man he was ‘lambasting.’

“That was someone who is like a brother to me, we go way back. He was jumping towards the pitch in stoppages, so I thought it right to go over and jokingly tell him off. Plus he was one of those who told us when we were trying to sign Milan Skriniar that he’d be a fantastic buy.”

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