Don’t count out Inter, says Ranieri
Claudio Ranieri is adamant that Inter still have a chance of ending the campaign as Italian champions.
The Nerazzurri are 11 points behind leaders Juventus in the standings, butRanieri is remaining optimistic for the season ahead.
“The players all have the right desire,” Ranieri, who replaced Gian PieroGasperini in September, told Radio Anch’io Sport.
“For as long as it is mathematically possible, we’ll aim for the biggest prize. However, the teams up there will have to slow down a bit – otherwise it will be impossible.”
Inter have had a slow start to the season, but they collected a much-needed win at Siena over the weekend.
“It was a victory of will, humility and the awareness of facing a very difficult team that was coming off a streak of 11 games in which they had always scored a goal, except for the one against Juventus.
“We knew we would be coming up against a wall and, in my opinion, the team played a good match because it wasn't easy to get within the last 25 yards of this wall, this opponent.
“It was necessary to have guile to find the winner in the 90th minute. Only a team that truly wants to win manages to pull it off.
“When I arrived at Inter there was a lot of criticism regarding the fact that the team would decline in the second half.
“Certainly, scoring a 90th-minute goal against Siena, after a Champions League match and after returning to Milan at dawn on Wednesday, means something.
“We kept possession because we couldn't brainlessly attack, since Siena were well organised on the pitch. And for this I really have to compliment their Coach Giuseppe Sannino." [Football-Italia.net]