Slutski satisfied as stoic CSKA progress
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Article summary
Coach Leonid Slutski was quietly satisfied after PFC CSKA Moskva dramatically won at an FC Internazionale Milano side for whom, Claudio Ranieri says, "everything is going wrong".
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Claudio Ranieri, Inter coach
We tried to win with all our might and created four of five good chances, and CSKA created the same. At the moment everything is going wrong, but I have can lay no blame on the team. We ran and fought for the whole match, but sometimes the ball doesn't want to go in. It was the case for [Diego] Milito, for instance. We have to solve several problems – sometimes we look naive on the pitch – but I appreciated the way the team played tonight. Physically the squad is OK, our main issue is the psychological aspect. Now we must focus on the game against Fiorentina, then we'll pass judgement at the end of the year.
Leonid Slutski, CSKA coach
I don't want people to downgrade our victory. For all the talk of Inter playing a weakened team, they had a pretty feisty line-up. We had the slight advantage in both halves and we regularly created chances, though Inter had their share too.
The key moment was when Milito squandered a great opportunity with the score at 1-1. I am happy that everything ended the way it did and that the other match [in our group] brought the result that suited us. CSKA are an experienced team that take any setback stoically. Of course I hoped that we would beat Inter but I did not believe Lille would fail to win against Trabzonspor.
[The potential rivals in round of 16] are all decent. To tell the truth I am not thinking about them at the moment, although I would not mind playing Real [Madrid].
