(Reuters) – Inter Milan manager Simone Inzaghi bemoaned having to make early substitutions due to injuries to key players but was pleased with his team’s overall performance in Sunday’s win at AS Roma in Serie A.
Inter, who secured a 1-0 victory thanks to a second-half goal by Lautaro Martinez, suffered setbacks early in the match as Hakan Calhanoglu and Francesco Acerbi left the field with injuries.
“Calhanoglu wasn’t in great shape over the last two days, so with the other two available I would’ve rested him this evening. He is generous and tried to put in the effort, but he felt the adductor pain and stopped before it got worse,” Inzaghi told DAZN.
“Roma are a solid side with a lot of good players coming off the bench, so the fact we had to use up two substitutions was a real problem.”
Even with the early substitutions, Inzaghi was happy with his team’s performance.
“Roma are a strong team with quality, so the lads did really well. The first half was balanced, in the second we had two or three opportunities to double our lead and should’ve killed off the game,” he said.
Inzaghi praised his captain, Martinez, who bagged his 133rd goal for Inter across all competitions, for matching the club’s all-time scoring record for a foreign player, which was previously held by Hungarian Istvan Nyers since the 1950s.
“He just has to keep doing what he has done with Inter and Argentina. I think he is one of the five best players in the world. He deserves all of this success,” Inzaghi said.
(Reporting by Tommy Lund in Gdansk; Editing by Toby Davis)
