Simone Inzaghi heaped praise upon Arsenal as ‘one of the best teams I have seen so far in the Champions League,’ but Inter proved their solidity despite massive squad rotation.
It was a hard-fought win at San Siro, although it almost had the perfect start when Denzel Dumfries smashed a shot against the crossbar in the second minute.
Ultimately, Hakan Calhanoglu converted a penalty – his 19th out of 19 for the club in all competition – for the Mikel Merino handling offence on the stroke of half-time, then they held out as Arsenal had plenty of possession and very few real chances.
Inzaghi sees Inter ambition against Arsenal
“It is a very important victory, we had to fight for it against a very strong, intense team that caused us problems above all from set plays,” Inzaghi told Sky Sport Italia.
“Arsenal are one of the best teams I have seen so far in the Champions League this season. We started very well, then in the second half defended really well. We wanted the victory in front of our fans.
“Naturally, we are proud to have got four points from two games against Manchester City and Arsenal, above all with such strong performances. We are holding out well, but there are another four matches to go in this stage of the tournament.”
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Inter and Atalanta are the only teams out of 36 in the Champions League this season to not concede a single goal after four matches.
They also achieved it tonight despite resting numerous star men ahead of Sunday’s Scudetto showdown with Napoli, so Marcus Thuram, Federico Dimarco, Alessandro Bastoni, Nicolò Barella and Henrikh Mkhitaryan were all rested.
“I was very glad to see the unity and solidity of the team. Arsenal had a lot of set plays, but ultimately Sommer barely had a save to make,” continued Inzaghi.
“When I say that we have 23 first choice players, I am not just throwing that phrase out there, it is because I genuinely believe that it is true. We proved it tonight, as we made lots of changes and saw no difference.”
Inzaghi has become one of the best squad rotation coaches in Italy thanks to his experience in multiple tournaments.
“It’s natural, when you are at Inter, you have to take it one game at a time. The match with Venezia was intense and over the last few weeks several players have had to keep going, so I needed to give some of them a breather.
“It is only right to enjoy a victory like this against an impressive opponent like Arsenal, a very strong team in my view, but we showed solidity and have to keep it going.”