Mancini 'experiment' pays dividends
Tuesday, December 7, 2004
Article summary
FC Internazionale Milano coach Roberto Mancini was delighted with the contribution of his fringe players.
Article body
Roberto Mancini, Inter coach
It was a good game and I want to congratulate my players. I wanted to experiment with a three-pronged attack and I'm satisfied with what I saw. Those players who don't usually get a game played well, which makes my future selection more difficult. Now I hope to avoid [FC] Barcelona in the first knockout stage, but sooner or later we will have to face every big team in this competition, so it doesn't make much difference. I'm very surprised with the elimination of Valencia [CF]; I was sure they were going to beat Werder Bremen tonight.
Obafemi Martins, Inter forward
In the second half we had a lot of space to counterattack, and this is the kind of game I like most. I scored two goals so I am very happy. We wanted to finish first in the group and we managed it.
Hugo Broos, Anderlecht coach
We tried to earn our first points in the group but unfortunately did not manage it. We created some chances to score in the first half and I'm satisfied with our overall performance in the first 45 minutes. We had more problems in the second period, especially in defence as we were missing several players at the back. Defence is crucial in a competition like the Champions League. The teams who conceded only a few goals all managed to progress to the next stage.
