The Italian side recovered from a goal down to beat Ludogorets 2-1 in Thursday’s Europa League clash.
Antonio Conte praised Inter for their strategy to Thursday’s Europa League second-leg triumph over Ludogorets from the round of 32 after being forced to play the match behind closed doors.
Goals from Cristiano Biraghi and Romelu Lukaku earned Inter a 2-1 success for an empty San Siro after Cauly opened the scoring for Ludogorets, who trailed 2-0 in the first leg.
Fears within the coronavirus outbreak in Italy meant fans weren’t permitted to attend the game and Inter head coach Conte admitted that the tie had an eerie feel to it.
“I have played behind closed doors with Italy against Croatia,” he told Sky Sport Italia. “The atmosphere is odd and does not make things easy as it is like a training session.
“I need to say that my players took the perfect approach today, even when we dropped. We made adjustments, giving other players a few minutes, and we proceed.”
Inter’s home league clash with Sampdoria last weekend has been postponed in wake of the virus spreading, while Sunday’s blockbuster visit to Serie A leaders Juventus are also behind closed doors in Turin.
Conte’s Nerazzurri lost their last league game 2-1 to second-placed Lazio and course Juve by six points with a match in hand to play with.
Conte admitted the Derby d’Italia clash, in addition to the coming trip to Napoli, will go a long way to determining how near his side would be to seriously challenge for silverware.
“We began this run of matches and there’s an important game coming up against Juventus,” he said. “Once we reach the end of the period, we will know how distant we are from a winning level.
“I’m convinced this will give us more clarity on where we are now, the duration of the street ahead of us and the work that still has to be done.”
Inter began with a back three against Ludogorets but reverted to a flat-back four in the second half, with Christian Eriksen and Marcelo Brozovic linking up in central midfield.
“We will need to work on the thoughts and have had time in training,” Conte said. “The postponement of the match with Sampdoria last week gave us a while to check out something new, which may be used either at the beginning of a game or during the 90 minutes.
“When you’ve got two strikers, it is a necessarily harder task for the midfielders. For people who play one center-forward, two wingers or a trequartista, there are more players ready to help cover defensively. We always need to get the ideal balance depending on the features of the opponents we’re up against.”
