Post by Taxigirl on Nov 30, 2003 9:31:56 GMT
Alberto Zaccheroni insists that Inter beat Juventus through their own merits as Marcello Lippi holds up his hands and admits defeat.
“I am very happy with the attitude of the squad and naturally the result,” explained a joyful Zac following the 3-1 win in Turin.
“I think that Juventus did what they could this evening, but if they didn’t impress that is because of our performance and our tactics.”
Many feared there would be a rout following the Nerazzurri’s 5-1 hammering at the hands of Arsenal, but the Coach insists that was a blip.
“If we played one truly awful match out of six,” he maintained, “that suggests the poor performance was the unusual one. I tried to show the players that and they understood it.”
In Serie A Inter are unbeaten under Zaccheroni and have conceded just one goal, now entering the top four with this win.
“It was important to close down Juve on the flanks and the vivacious Obafemi Martins caused them plenty of problems, especially when he had space to run at the defence.”
Julio Cruz was the true star of the show with two well-taken goals and became the first Inter player to score from open play here since 1993.
“We are a great squad,” assured the Argentine hitman, “and if we keep playing like this then Inter can go far.”
“We knew it would be a difficult match, but thankfully we were able to get the result we needed to keep our Scudetto hopes alive.”
Marcello Lippi was honest in his appraisal of this shock defeat, Juve’s first setback in all competitions this season.
“I must compliment Inter for being better than us in every area on the night,” confessed the Coach. “They were concentrated, eager and paradoxically the many injuries made them even more determined to win.”
“The opening goal was their first real effort, then we wasted two good chances with Mauro Camoranesi and David Trezeguet, but honestly we did very little to try and win this match.”
“However, it should also be noted that this was our first defeat in all competitions since July 18.”
It can hardly be believed that Inter emerged with such a confident victory following the run-up to this game by both sides.
“Perhaps all that praise went to our heads,” mused Lippi, “but quite simply tonight I saw an Inter team that was superior on every level.”
Juventus are now just two points clear at the top and could be overtaken by both Roma and Milan on Sunday.
“If Roma and Milan win tomorrow then it won’t be a tragedy. There is a long way to go yet and we can still recover from a defeat.”