‘Regrets’ For Chivu As Atleti's Plan Worked ‘Perfectly’ In Inter’s First UCL Defeat Of The Season

With two straight defeats in their last two games and their fifth overall this season, the Cristian Chivu experiment doesn’t seems to be having the desired effects for former Serie A champions, Inter Milan as they suffered a 2-1 loss to Atletico Madrid in the Champions League.

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The Nerazzurri were still smarting from a tough 1-0 Serie A defeat to rivals AC Milan in the Milan derby and were hoping to maintain their 100 per cent Champions League record but they failed to hang on when it mattered the most despite dominating at the Wanda Metropolitano stadium.

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There was early controversy when Julian Alvarez’s goal was allowed to stand despite an apparent Alex Baena handling offence in the build-up, which was cancelled out by Piotr Zielinski and just as it seemed to be heading for a draw, Jose Maria Gimenez’s powerful header on a corner in the 93rd minute sealed the result.

“It hurts for everyone, because there are many regrets. We came here fired up to do so much, more than going home empty-handed. We had started quite well, then conceded the goal, had the strength and courage to react, showing quality and intensity.” Chivu told Sky Sport Italia.

“We sat a little deeper after a while, partly because the opponents deserve credit for pushing us back. There were a few counter-attacks that unfortunately we were unable to make the most of. Then at the last minute this corner came out of nowhere.” He continued.

“We had our best men in the box for set plays, for height and ability in the air, but we still conceded a goal.” The Beneamata have a clear problem this season, which is most of their defeats have been in the big games against quality opponents, failing to step up to the next level.

They created numerous scoring opportunities in all these matches, but got it wrong on the details that make the difference. “This team must know how to react, be aware that it is strong. It must understand the moments of the match, be more concrete, more clinical, not focus so much on pretty football,” noted Chivu.

“That is what we tried to do tonight. We were prepared for their high press and had even said we wouldn’t mark so closely, in case we got turned, but that’s how the first goal happened anyway. We reacted with determination and quality to get the equaliser, but were unable to defend the result to the end, nor make those counter-attacks count to win it.”

The other major Issue for the Nerazzurri is their weakness when defending from counter-attacks, which was already evident in the defeat to AC Milan at the weekend. “I thought the reaction in the second half showed patience and we attacked the space, wanted the ball in those areas.”

“Sometimes if you wait for the ball to come to you, then you give the opponents time to get back into shape and reorganise. If we do this, we won’t lose the ball centrally so easily and be vulnerable to the counter. We have to work better in front of goal too.” The former Parma coach further explained.

“I know it was the second consecutive defeat where we had good performances, but emerged empty-handed. We must be aware of what we need to do, roll our sleeves up, get grittier and do the dirty work when needed.” Atletico Madrid made the difference with their substitutes, whereas it was put to Chivu that the Inter players did not come off the bench with the same determination.

“We expected Atleti to respond with fresh legs and we tried to tamp that down. We were coming off a derby, so there wasn’t a lot of energy left, but we tried to give all that we had. Everyone tried to give their all, I cannot reproach them.” He continued in his assessment of the match.

“Of course, we could’ve done better, putting in the fresh energy that was starting to drain at that moment, especially when holding up the ball and slowing the tempo. We will analyse the game and try to learn from these errors.” He concluded.

As for his counterpart, Diego Simeone, it was a plan worked to perfection for his team despite being on the back foot for most of the game. The Argentine played for the Nerazzurri from 1996 to 1999 and confessed in yesterday’s press conference that he sees himself on their bench in future as a coach.

Nonetheless, he celebrated wildly after Gimenez powered home an Antoine Griezmann corner deep into stoppages to seal the 2-1 victory. “We played against an incredibly strong team, I think one of the best in the Champions League,” Simeone told Amazon Prime Video Italia.

“We knew that, and our first half was aimed at limiting their football with pace and physicality, who could run when we recovered the ball. We knew they would suffer on counter-attacks, especially getting behind their wing-backs. Knowing that we could rely on a different part of our repertoire in the second half, the substitutes allowed us to continue the plan.”

We threw on everything we had, the game changed, we had the ball and they were making the quick transitions to cause us damage. Fortunately, we took home a result we really needed in the Champions League. The goal at the 94th minute made it all the more exhilarating, but win, draw or defeat, that was the plan.”

With this result, they’ve managed to maintain their perfect home record in the Champions League this season. “I don’t have comfort zones and I don’t want them, I enjoy being like this. We need to work with faith, love and quality.” He replied when pushed on his wild celebrations.

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“I have players who support me, there were many on the bench who wanted to start, but they did what they needed to do.” He further added. Inter have now suffered five defeats this season in all competition, but this was the first in the Champions League, where they had a perfect record going in.

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