STADIO LUIGI FERRARIS (Genoa) – Antonio Conte was proud of Inter’s achievement of winning their opening six Serie A games, but criticised Alexis Sanchez for getting himself sent off.
Sanchez was the standout of the game, scoring on his full debut, but also seeing red in the opening minutes of the second half after being booked a second time for simulation, thus leaving the Nerazzurri down to ten men for almost the entirety of the second half.
“I warned Sanchez and [Alessandro] Bastoni to be careful, as they had been booked once and I couldn’t substitute both of them,” Conte told the press after the game.
“Sanchez scored, but then also left the team down to ten men, and then they scored.
“I am happy with the victory, but when you create so much you must put the game to bed. We should have scored more than twice in the first half.
“It’s an experience we need to learn from.
“This could have killed anyone, but not us, we were great in holding on and then making things right, also thanks to the substitutes that came on.”
Conte brought in Romelu Lukaku and Danilo D’Ambrosio following Sanchez’s red card, and both contributed to Inter’s victory.
“Despite being down to 10 men, we managed to balance the situation from the bench, the players that came on are fighters,” Conte added.
Next up are Barcelona in the Champions League and then the Derby d’Italia against Juventus at the Stadio San Siro, a game that could be defining for the rest of the season.
“A game like this one [against Sampdoria] strengthens our mentality,” Conte said, “it is not enough to play well in order to win, you need a strong character.
“Now we must recuperate for Barcelona, Juventus come afterwards.
“We are proud to face them being top of the league with 18 points out of 18, but let’s not get over excited and stay focussed.”
