LILLE – "One swallow doesn't make a summer, but tonight's was an important victory for us. The lads are really sweating blood. They want to turn the corner and results like this boost confidence, which is just what we need." Claudio Ranieri managed to hide any enthusiasm as he spoke on Sky Sport Italia, but stressed the great step forward that Inter had taken in the Champions League by beating Lille by a goal to nil.
It was a match that saw the return of Wesley Sneijder and Thiago Motta to the team: "It's not written anywhere that Thiago always has to play in front of the defence. Is he too slow in that position? Maybe he is slow, but he thinks quickly and all the others backed him well. Thiago gave us rhythm and shape and he had Sneijder playing in front of him, another player who knows how to move on the field."
Against Lille the Nerazzurri defence was well organised but maybe something more was needed. "That's what we're trying to do," said Ranieri. "I didn't want to rock the boat here. I wanted to keep the 4-3-3 so we could be dangerous, but now I think it's important to back the team. Then logically, when we can, we press forward those extra 20 metres because if we are too far back we have 60 metres to cover. It wasn't a great match by any means, but in the conditions we are in at the moment, it was a good game. Let's not forget that Lille haven't lost for 10 months; they haven't lost at home, whereas we aren't in the best of form. There's no point denying that. Now we'll go on as we are and try to get better."
He also mentioned Julio Cesar's performance: "He had a great match but I'd like to stress that the whole team maintained a high level of concentration. That's what we got wrong in Catania. This evening we were on guard for the duration of the match. Is Lucio a fixture in defence now? No... [smiling, Ed]."
Ranieri later spoke to Mediaset Premium: "We're not out of it yet, but this win against Lille is good for morale and our self-confidence. Getting our injured players back is important, but they aren't 100% yet so I'll have to use them carefully. We have to accept the way we are at the moment. We were excellent in the first half while after the break we all managed to work hard and cling onto an important win."
Asked about handling the squad, the Nerazzurri coach explained that "Some rotation is necessary. We're in France so we should celebrate with Champagne. We were all very alert and then Julio Cesar came to the rescue - he was immense today. Sneijder is world class but we mustn't place too much responsibility on his shoulders, even though he enjoys it. He was the focal point for the midfielders and the forwards until he ran out of steam. The team had a very strong spine tonight."
