Following a 1-1 home draw with Cesena on Sunday, Inter manager Roberto Mancini admitted that his side will not be able to play in the Champions League next season. Mancini, who guided Inter to three back to back Serie A titles from 2005 till 2008, is in his second spell in charge of the Nerazzuri.
Mancini joined the club in November, taking over the reins from Walter Mazzarri. At that point in time the San Siro outfit were ninth on the Serie A table and playing poorly.
Since then, the team have improved but not enough to be competing for the Champions League spots and the former Manchester City boss admitted the same.
“At the moment there’s no point talking about third place, it’s not even logical to do so.”
“With a win we would’ve reached 39 points with 11 rounds to go. Now it’s going to be pretty difficult to reach third place. A win would’ve given us hope but there are too many teams in front of us now.
Rodrigo Palacio scored the equalizer for the Inter who won the Champions League in 2010 under Jose Mourinho. Inter are now seventh in the table and could find themselves as many as 12 points behind Lazio, who occupy the third and final Champions League spot, by Monday.
And Mancini has acknowledged that returning to Europe’s top competition could now be out of the question for his side.
The Italian reflected upon his sidea s performance, criticizing certain aspects of his sidea s play.
“The first half was below par and Cesena realised they could get us into trouble,” he said after the match. “They did more running than us. We weren’t very bright or aggressive.
“In the second half we got the goal straight away and pressed for a while but I don’t think it was a good game.
Mancini then spoke talked about the transition period that his side find themselves in.
“I think all players want to do better, but unfortunately this team is improving slowly and switching from good performances to bad ones,” he added. “We can only work and it might take more time to improve.
“Perhaps it is my fault, I am an optimist by nature and thought we could achieve something more in less time. It’s bad for our fans, as they suffer, but we are suffering too.”