Conte: "An undeserved defeat, we put in a great performance"

BARCELONA - The Champions League defeat to Barcelona leaves Inter on just one point in Group F. After the game, Antonio Conte looked back on the full 90 minutes, covering both a stunning first half and then the Nerazzurri’s decline at the end of the game.

“There’s little point in heaping on praise after a defeat. What we can say with certainty is that we really made it difficult for Barcelona, we deserved more, much more. It’s an undeserved defeat, but we had to be better at making the most of our chances in the first half. Playing so many games in such a short time span has taken its toll on us a bit and we had a slight physical drop in the second half, combined with the quality of Barcelona.”

Conte pointed to the Nerazzurri’s great performance: “The result isn’t a fair reflection: they have great champions but we made them run a lot. Our aim was to do damage to them when we had the ball, we should have killed off the game in the first half. Obviously, when you’re playing in a stadium like this against this side, you can pay the price. All we can do now is lick our wounds and prepare for Sunday’s match, but I saw courage and character. We put in an excellent performance.”

Prior to talking about the attitude the team need to display in the next few days, Conte spoke about the match once more: “I must admit that I’m a bit bitter because I saw situations which I didn't like from the very beginning. I was booked by the referee, but all I was asking for was respect to be shown towards a side who came here to play and try to do their best. However, when I say this, I don’t want to give the lads any excuses.”

On Sunday it’s Juventus in the league: “We are hurting from this evening’s defeat: we can’t be happy just because we played well, rather we need to be angry because we lost. For a lot of our players this is their first season in the Champions League, but this must act as the first step in our path of development. We need to keep working hard.”