BIRMINGHAM - Julio Cesar underlined the positive aspects of Inter's pre-season display at Aston Villa, where Inter teams coached by Giovanni Trapattoni and Ottavio Bianchi lost in UEFA Cup matches during the nineties.

The Brazilian goalkeeper said: "We were tired and our legs were hurting, but we tried to score right until the final minute so it's fine like this. This is how we should interpret these pre-season friendlies.

"I didn't see a bad Inter or a bad performance. We were just lacking a bit of lucidity and the strength to counter a more in-form opponent in the decisive moments. But we had our chances and we could have equalised at the end of the first half."

Julio Cesar, who kept the score down with a number of important saves at Villa Park, added: "It was a good training session for me, a good test. I made lots of nice saves." But there was little he could do to keep out Gareth Barry's spot kick for Villa's third. "These things don't count at this stage of the season. What counts is the work and the group's harmony, and here in England we have worked a lot and enjoyed being together. And I think we showed this on the pitch in Manchester.

"Our performance today was certainly influenced by logistical aspects like the trip by coach, the quick lunch and the tiredness after a very early start following yesterday's very tough day of training."