Inter Milan manager Luciano Spalletti has admitted that the Nerazzurri could not produce their best performance as they succumbed to a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Torino. Adem Ljajic scored the only goal of the game during the first period, and this saw the Nerazzurri drop out of the Champions League positions with seven games to play.

Speaking after the game, Spalletti admitted that the Nerazzurri were not in the best of form despite having numerous attempts on the opposition goal, he said: “Sometimes, things just do not go your way no matter how hard you work. Today we didn’t move the ball around enough, and we wasted energy chasing down their counter attacks. We needed to show more aggression in recovering the ball after we lost it and we should have kept Torino pinned in their half. We tried today, but, there is always in an opponent to overcome to get a result.”

Meanwhile, Spalletti expressed some sympathy for Croatian attacker Ivan Perisic, who had indirectly contributed to Ljajic’s opener for the hosts, he added: “Perisic tried to recover the ball, but the rebound was not fair on him considering how hard he worked to chase back. These things can happen.”

Despite the defeat, Inter are within sights of Champions League football with just one point separating them from Lazio and Roma, who are placed in the third and fourth positions respectively in the standings. The famous old club had gone through a lean patch last term, where they failed to qualify for Europe altogether, and Champions League football may now be key on keeping hold of some of their brighter prospects.

Mauro Icardi, Ivan Perisic, and Milan Skriniar are among those linked with some of the biggest clubs including Manchester United, Barcelona and Real Madrid, and the supporters will hope that the club can end the season on a good note with a top-four finish.