Zaccheroni left wanting

Alberto Zaccheroni's first UEFA Champions League match as coach of Internazionale FC ended in frustration on Wednesday night as FC Lokomotiv Moskva followed up their impressive victory against the Italian side on Matchday 3 with a well-deserved 1-1 draw.

Lokomotiv on form
"We never managed to do what we wanted to do," Zaccheroni said after the game. "That's both our fault and because of Lokomotiv, who played really well. They played very well in midfield and had most of the possession, especially at the start of the game when they always seemed to have the ball."

Inter goal
Lokomotiv harried the Italian side from the outset, but against the run of play fell behind on 14 minutes, Alvaro Recoba shooting powerfully beyond Sergei Ovchinnikov. Recoba had also scored in Inter’s victory against AC Chievo Verona on Sunday - a result that lifted confidence after a run of five matches without victory stretching back to the end of Héctor Cúper’s reign

'Step backwards'
For Zaccheroni, this performance was a major setback after that upturn in form. "This is a big step backwards compared to our league win on Sunday," he said. "Our shape was wrong - we never managed to keep the right distance between the defence and midfield, and the midfield and attack. When you do not win at home you lose confidence, but the players are working hard and will soon forget this match."

'Must win twice'
A disappointed Zaccheroni refused even to take heart from the fact that, after Arsenal FC’s 1-0 win against FC Dynamo Kyiv, his side now lead the group by a point ahead of the Ukrainian champions. “I do not care about what happened in the other match because we have two more games to play and we must win them both,” he said.

Unfortunate deflection
That they did not win tonight was down to an unfortunate deflection off Marco Materazzi that steered Dmitri Loskov’s 54th-minute shot beyond Francesco Toldo. For Lokomotiv coach Yuri Semin, however, a draw was no more than his side deserved for a spirited performance during which they kept Inter at arm’s length for long periods.

Semin satisfied
"It is never easy to play against Italian teams, but I honestly think we dominated this match," Semin said. "I am satisfied with both the performance and the result, even if we wasted too many chances in the second half. We only made one mistake when Inter scored but after that we regained our confidence and defended well. We managed to do what we had planned, especially in attack, and it's a good result for us."

Coach's concern
Semin's pleasure was tinged with concern. The final match in the Russian league season was played last weekend and the Lokomotiv coach believes, in terms of preparation, that will give Arsenal and Dynamo the advantage in the remaining matches against his side. "We will have more problems than the other teams because our domestic league is finished so it will not be easy to prepare for our next two games," he said.

'Evenly balanced'
His side will at least be going into their next match at home to Dynamo only one point behind their opponents and two off leaders Inter. As Semin said: "Now the group is evenly balanced."