Inter´s ´great desire´ got the job done against Sassuolo, says Inzaghi

Simone Inzaghi believes Inter demonstrated “a great desire to win” after Edin Dzeko’s double secured a 2-1 victory over Sassuolo.

Inter, who beat Barcelona in the Champions League on Tuesday, got back to winning ways in Serie A after suffering back-to-back defeats, while they also ended a run of three successive away losses.

At the age of 36 years and 205 days, Dzeko passed the 100-goal mark in the Italian top flight, becoming the third-oldest player to do so after Goran Pandev (37y 268d) and Sergio Pellissier (37y 243d).

Inzaghi hailed the character shown by his players, telling DAZN in his post-match interview: “We saw an Inter that had a lot of desire to win and this overcame physical and mental fatigue.

“The team had a great desire to win, like Tuesday [against Barcelona in the Champions League]. Towards the end, despite the tiredness, we grew technically and this allowed us to win the game.”

Together as one #SassuoloInter #ForzaInter pic.twitter.com/9kQoFtvhxf

— Inter (@Inter_en) October 8, 2022

Inzaghi also highlighted the impact of club captain Samir Handanovic who, despite dropping to the bench to facilitate a Serie A debut for Andre Onana, gave a rousing pre-match speech in the dressing room at the MAPEI Stadium.

“Samir is an added value on the pitch and also off,” Inzaghi said. “Only in this way can we move forward. But not only Samir, [everyone] made an important contribution.

“[Andre] played as I expected. A goalkeeper of very important quality and, in two months, he has shown that he can play the place with a great champion like Handanovic.”

The big games keep coming for the Nerazzurri, who travel to Camp Nou in midweek for their return fixture against Barca.

“Now, we will have Barcelona, it is a delicate and important moment, with a few rotations especially in attack and in midfield,” Inzaghi added. “We have to recover our energy.”