Italy Star Looks Back On Inter Milan Champions League Final Loss Vs Man City – Admits ‘I Couldn’t Sleep’ | OneFootball

Alessandro Bastoni admits that he “couldn’t sleep” after the heartbreak of losing to Man City in the Champions League final.

Speaking to Italian journalist Alessandro Catellan on the Supernova program, via FCInterNews, Bastoni also recalled the importance of Antonio Conte keeping him at Inter, and called Simone Inzaghi “one of us.”

Inter Milan went all the way to the Champions League final in the 2022-23 season.

.There, the Nerazzurri took on Premier League giants Manchester City.

It was a very close match. Inter went toe-to-toe with City, despite having gone into the match as underdogs.

And there was a slew of good chances for Inter to score late in the match.

However, in the end the English side managed to prevail. They won by a scoreline of 1-0.

Bastoni Admits: “I Couldn’t Sleep” After Inter Champions League Final Loss Vs Man City

MILAN, ITALY – JANUARY 29: Alessandro Bastoni of FC Internazionale warms up prior to the UEFA Champions League 2024/25 League Phase MD8 match between FC Internazionale Milano and AS Monaco at Stadio San Siro on January 29, 2025 in Milan, Italy. (Photo by Marco Luzzani/Getty Images)

Inter defender Alessandro Bastoni said that “Obviously, it would have been better to win.”

“But playing in that competition, facing City like that, it made us understand that we can stay at that level,” the Italian international continued.

“It leaves you with an awareness,” Bastoni said.

“The next evening, I had to take sleeping pills. You almost go into a pharmacological coma, because otherwise you’d be up until six or seven in the morning.”

Bastoni said that the feeling “only passes after a long time.”

“It was also the last match of the season,”

“You need the holidays, because then you can switch off,” he added. “But even there, I was still thinking about it.”

“It’s a match that you might never get a chance to play again in your career. It’s not a match like any others.”

Meanwhile, Bastoni also revealed that “I fought with everything I had to leave” in the summer of 2019.

“I had Goden, Skriniar, and de Vrij all ahead of me,” he noted.

“But [Conte] asked me to stay. And once I started playing, I never dropped out of the team.”

Bastoni: Inzaghi “One Of Us” & “Like The 26th Player”

MILAN, ITALY – FEBRUARY 25: Simone Inzaghi, Head Coach of FC Internazionale, stands in front of a FC Internazionale badge prior to the Coppa Italia Quarter Final match between FC Internazionale and SS Lazio at Stadio Giuseppe Meazza on February 25, 2025 in Milan, Italy. (Photo by Marco Luzzani/Getty Images)

Meanwhile, Alessandro Bastoni also gave his thoughts on the relationship that Inter coach Simone Inzaghi has with the players.

“Inzaghi is like the 26th player,” he said.

“You can talk to him. Obviously, you keep the distance between coach and player.”

“But in terms of his character and integration into the group, he’s one of us.”

“He was a footballer,” Bastoni noted of his coach at Inter Milan.”

“He understands the dynamic of the dressing room.”