Conte: “We have to be more clinical, we have 12 finals left”

MILAN - 115 days since last playing there on 27 February against Ludogorets, Inter were back at San Siro for the rearranged matchday 25 fixture against Sampdoria in Serie A.

It was a positive return to action for the Nerazzurri, who picked up all three points thanks to Lukaku and Lautaro Martinez goals in a 2-1 win. “We should have finished the game off sooner,” said the Coach in his post-match analysis. “We also created a lot against Napoli but it then finished 1-1 because of a mistake. Today, we had plenty of chances but didn’t really wrap up the win. We have to be more clinical.”

“We have twelve games left and we won’t have any room to slip up because we’re chasing,” he added. “Even at the start of the second half, we had two huge changes to make it 3-0, instead we conceded from a corner. We’ve worked so hard, both tactically and physically, and we want to take our chances. I hope that games like tonight’s, as well as the semi-final against Napoli, allow us to understand where we went wrong and help us to grow. If we want to aspire to lifting trophies, we need to be more ruthless in a sporting sense.”

“I’m still satisfied with the guys because they did well, but if we want to achieve something special then we need even more determination, both in possession and when our opponents have the ball. But I still have a lot of faith in my boys, it’s only natural that there are steps that still need to be taken. We want to cause Lazio and Juventus problems right until the end, we’re working on building a winning mentality and that’s the most important thing right now. It’s a shame because we deserved more in the Coppa Italia. Now we have twelve games left where we have to give everything we’ve got and get to the end of the season without any regrets.”