03 March 2016
A night to forget but one fortunately that ended with a happy ending for the Bianconeri, reaching their second Coppa Italia final in a row by the very skin of their teeth on penalties at the San Siro.
A taker of the always crucial opening spot-kick, Andrea Barzagli expressed his relief at the outcome of a difficult 120 minutes in Milan while stressing that this evening’s 3-0 defeat must be viewed as a blip for the reigning champions.
“I was confident I would score from the spot but sometimes that isn’t enough,” he said, sharing his post-match thoughts with the Jtv cameras. “In any shoot-out you need to ride your luck and fortunately we took five very good penalties.
“We’ll be heading back to Rome for the final for the second time in two seasons and for that we can be very pleased. We’re delighted to have progressed but let’s hope we learn from our performance tonight and use it as inspiration for the rest of the campaign.”
Reflecting on the evening as a whole, Barzagli echoed the comments of coach Massimiliano Allegri and defensive colleague and stand-in skipper Leonardo Bonucci, concluding that while the Bianconeri’s performance as a whole was poor, focus must now turn to righting this evening’s wrongs and focusing on retaining their trophy at the Stadio Olimpico on 21 May.
“We improved in extra-time as Inter began to tire and even could have finished things off then had we put away the two or three good chances we created. The problem tonight was the first 70 minutes. We got nervous once the second goal went in and on that psychological front we know that we have plenty to work on.
“We were poor but we just have to move on. A team like ours that aims to win every game and every competition possible can’t afford to have matches like this. A tough 120 minutes no doubt about it, but the most important thing is that we are in the final.”
