Gagliardini: "We want to bounce back straight away"

MILAN – Roberto Gagliardini has said that Inter are fully focused on returning to winning ways against Cagliari on Sunday following last weekend’s defeat to Roma.

"We could have done better [against Roma] but that match is in the past now. We’re focused on Sunday because there’s still a long way to go," Gagliardini told Sky Sport 24 on Thursday. "We’re working hard with the coach to bounce back straight away – we want to get the three points against Cagliari and kick on again.

"The fans have to keep supporting us and believing right until the end – we’ll do everything we can to achieve our objectives."

Gagliardini has made an impressive start to life at Inter since his January move from Atalanta, with the young Italian crediting his new colleagues for making the switch so seamless.

"It’s been a good start – I’m really happy," he said. "It’s been easy to settle in thanks to my team-mates and the coach. They’ve made it easy for me to do well. Pioli is a very organised coach – he takes care of every detail and that’s definitely helped me. I was fortunate to join a team that was performing well, too, but now the most important thing is to continue on the right path.

"Suning are a very ambitious organisation – I realised that the minute I got here. They want to take Inter back to where we belong and I’m sure that we’ll be one of the top teams in the world soon."

Gagliardini’s former club Atalanta have maintained their early-season form despite his departure, with the midfielder already looking forward to a reunion in a couple of weeks.

"I have lots of mates in Bergamo so I’m happy for them, but we’re opponents now," he insisted. "We play each other in two weeks’ team and it promises to be a great match."

Last but not least, Gagliardini revealed who his closest friend is at the club.

"It’s D’Ambrosio," he said. "We sit next to each other in the dressing room and as soon as I joined he took me under his wing, so we’ve become good friends."