Elisa Bartoli and Cecile Runarsdottir, Inter Women: “We took the lead with desire and enthusiasm. Now we face Juventus, a very difficult match against a great team.”
Inter Milan lost 1-4 at home to Manchester City in the fourth round of the UEFA Women's Champions League group stage. Despite the defeat, the Nerazzurre played their game, partially putting their opponents under pressure and breaking the deadlock with a fine goal from Elisa Bartoli.
The former Giallorossi captain spoke alongside Cecile Ran Runarsdottir after the final whistle. Both briefly recounted what happened on the pitch.
Despite the high caliber of their opponents, the Milanese team created plenty of chances and even came close, on more than one occasion, to a comeback. It will now be important to continue working in this direction, especially ahead of this weekend's Serie A match, when Inter will play Juventus. The Bianconere, while strong on paper, are having a turbulent season, often lacking in performance, but they are capable of causing damage when necessary.
It's a shame because we took the lead with desire and enthusiasm, I don't see any negativity at this moment. We're on a Champions League journey for the first time, we played against a team that's top of the English league, we managed to score and create plenty of chances. We need to work hard and keep going, I'm confident that somehow we can continue to surprise. Let's start from the first half, from the goal and the desire to sacrifice and fight, from what we created in attack: there are many positives and we'll take those, but we'll also analyze the mistakes to try to improve. For 45 minutes we played almost on par with Manchester City: I'm sad about the result, but now we're moving on immediately. Let's recharge our batteries and immediately focus on the league for an important match against a strong team like Juventus.
"I'm disappointed with the result. We had some good moments in the game, but ultimately it didn't go well. I think the goals we conceded were due to our own mistakes. As a team, we have to learn from these moments, because we're a strong team and we can still improve. We created chances, but they were good at capitalizing on our mistakes to score. The level is higher in the Champions League. Now we have Juventus, a very difficult match against a great team, but we have the opportunity to bounce back immediately, and we'll have to give our best."