Bastoni: ‘Champions League defeat helped Inter, frightening nastiness from critics’ | OneFootball

Alessandro Bastoni explains how losing the Champions League Final to Manchester City helped Inter, why Simone Inzaghi ‘is our 26th player,’ and dealing with ‘frightening nastiness’ from critics.

The defender gave a lengthy interview with Alessandro Cattelan’s podcast Supernova, so you can read the rest of his comments here and here.

The Nerazzurri are still in the running for a possible Treble this season, as they are top of the Serie A table, will face Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarter-final and drew 1-1 with Milan in the first leg of the Coppa Italia semi-final.

They got so close to winning the Champions League in Istanbul in May 2023, losing the Final 1-0 to the financial powerhouse of Manchester City.

“I preferred to win it, obviously, but the fact we played like that against Manchester City proved to us that we could compete at that level. It was where we belonged. In terms of self-belief and confidence, it helped a huge amount,” said Bastoni.

“It was a struggle to sleep after that game, you just had to mainline melatonin and go into a sort of coma, otherwise you wouldn’t sleep for a week. It took a long time to get over that defeat, I kept thinking about it over the summer on vacation. You never know if you’ll get to play another Champions League Final in your career, so it goes down to the bone.”

Bastoni admires Inzaghi approach to Inter players

Tijjani Reijnders of AC Milan is challenged by Alessandro Bastoni of FC Internazionale during the Serie A match against FC Internazionale at Stadio Giuseppe Meazza on September 22, 2024 in Milan, Italy. (Photo by Marco Luzzani/Getty Images)

Inzaghi built on that by winning the Serie A title in 2024 and is on track to retain the Scudetto, earning him a new contract at San Siro.

“Inzaghi is like the 26th player of the squad. He can talk to us very easily, his spirit is very much within the group, he was a player not long ago and is not too far off our age either,” explained Bastoni.

“He also has a record, as nobody else managed to score five Champions League goals in one game. We were in the training retreat when Pavlidis scored four and I swear he was trembling…”

Is Inzaghi a coach who puts a lot of stock in superstition?

“I can’t say, because otherwise he’d lose his power! We saw something…”

Dealing with defeat is a difficult thing for players, coaches and fans, especially now in the era of social media.

“I have a bit of an NBA mentality: you cannot win every game, it’s just not feasible, so after a defeat you reset, prepare for the next,” continued Bastoni.

“I can put in a bad performance, it happens, but people cannot respond by wishing death upon me or my family. That shows a lack of respect, which social media has made far worse. An Inter fan who jeers in the stadium or insults players on social media is not doing any good for himself or the team.

“I am fortunate that it doesn’t affect me too much, but some really do play with the handbrake on because they are scared of that criticism. Even if you don’t care, you still hear rumours and comments. You just have to remember who it comes from, if it’s someone who never played football or understands what it’s like.

“There is nowadays a frightening nastiness and jealousy out there, not just over football, but social media made criticism of anything much nastier.”