Inzaghi credits Milan for ‘never giving up’ in ‘very painful defeat’ for Inter | OneFootball

Inter boss Simone Inzaghi extended congratulations to AC Milan after his side surrendered a two-goal lead in the Supercoppa Italiana final last night.

Milan produced a stunning comeback to beat their rivals Inter and lift the first trophy of the year, triumphing 3-2 after a dramatic game in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Inter struck first through Lautaro Martinez and Mehdi Taremi either side of the half-time whistle, and it looked like they were on course for a fourth straight Super Cup.

However, Milan didn’t give up and they turned the game on its head in the second half. Theo Hernandez scored with a free-kick to halve the deficit, Christian Pulisic equalised with a sweet strike and Tammy Abraham won it in the dying moments.

Inzaghi spoke in the press conference room after the full-time whistle to try and pick apart what was a difficult night for his team in the end, with MilanNews relaying his comments.

What happened?

“That we reopened the game, the 2-1 goal was probably tainted by a foul on Asllani: he might not have whistled, but the ball was ours and there we reopened a game that seemed closed. We were in control, that free kick reopened the game.

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“There were mistakes and inaccuracies, but the team did what they had to do to try to win. I had defenders who accumulated fatigue, but I couldn’t change.

“We should have closed the game at 2-0, now we’ll return to Italy with a very painful defeat. We return to Italy very tired with a few ailments, we’ll have to react as we always have.”

How much of an impact did Calhanoglu coming off have?

“Beyond the absences, you also have to focus on the players who come in. Apart from Calhanoglu and Thuram, I also think about the defenders we left at home and who would have helped us.

“We know that we will have to be good at moving forward, recovering them, we have two important players who have been out for too long.

Photo by Abdullah Ahmed/Getty Images

“We are trying to do everything we can to recover them as soon as possible, for the others, playing every 3 days, the tiredness builds up.”

How do you recover?

“We’ll have to be good, after a defeat that hurts everyone. We were ahead in a derby, we’ll have to unite after the mistakes that didn’t allow us to win a trophy.”

Did you have a chance to chat with Conceicao?

“I didn’t have the pleasure, compliments must be given to the opposing team. They never gave up, then there are our demerits, because a team like ours must not let the opponent back into the game. We made mistakes, we will try to study them and avoid them in the future.”