Inter Milan manager Luciano Spalletti has revealed his side’s game plan was affected by Kwadwo Asamoah’s crucial mistake in their 1-1 draw with PSV Eindhoven leading to a shock elimination from the Uefa Champions League on Tuesday.
The Nerazzurri needed a win over the Dutch giants and hope Tottenham Hotspurs fall to Barcelona in the other game in order to seal qualification to the round of 16 of the competition.
However, the first-half blunder from the former Juventus relegated Inter Milan to the Uefa Europa League after sharing the spoils 1-1 with the Dutch side at San Siro.
The 30-year-old attempted to dribble Steven Bergwijn but the PSV winger won the ball and set up Lazano Bahena for the opener before Mauro Icardi equalized for the host in the final quarter.
“We did not manage to remain calm even though everything was still possible after the mistake by Asamoah which led to the goal, ” Spalletti told Sky Sports Italia.
“They counter-attacked a lot, something that increased the tension and nervousness and these are things that make you lose focus on the game. We suffered too many counter-attacks, counter attacks that did not cause us too much damage but it was how we wanted to manage the game when we set up the game plan.
“We are bitterly disappointed with the result, it hurts for all of us. It’s also tough to take for our fans. We weren’t as composed as we should have been after their goal. We became nervous and gave the ball away too much.
“We thus became disorganised from a tactical point of view and wasted too much energy chasing them down on the break. This wasn’t the correct way to manage the game, ” he added.