Chivu: ‘Inter enjoying their football, now top four is secure’

Cristian Chivu is glad Inter ‘enjoy their football’ after sweeping Cagliari aside 3-0, but continues to resist Scudetto celebration. ‘Thank God we achieved Champions League qualification.’

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The Nerazzurri are ever closer to Scudetto glory after a hard-fought 3-0 victory over Cagliari at San Siro.

It took until the 53^rd minute to finally break the Sardinians down with Marcus Thuram tapping in the Federico Dimarco assist, then moments later Nicolò Barella rifled in another.

Piotr Zielinski put the icing on the cake in stoppages with a ferocious strike into the top corner.

Chivu continuing to mock media

Last week, the coach took a sideswipe at his rivals by saying their primary objective was a Champions League spot, so with Como’s defeat today that is now mathematically certain.

“I was being ironic last week, but not joking, so we’re very happy,” smiled Chivu on Sky Sport Italia.

“We were aware of how important this match was. We had a few problems in the first half, we moved it too slowly, and that allowed Cagliari to cover the spaces very well. We spread them wider after the break, pushed the forwards up, and also raised the intensity level.

“When this team breaks the deadlock, it starts to enjoy its football and go for more ambitious moves. This is a team with quality, they are great players and they enjoy themselves on the pitch.”

Chivu was asked if he can see the belief in the eyes of his players in the locker room, but had a curious answer and added more sarcasm.

“I don’t see their eyes often, as they are always looking down at their phones. I call this the one-hand generation, they’ve always got a phone in one hand, they do other things with the other…

“We are aware of the hard work we’ve done, of what we did to become competitive, and thank God we have now achieved the objective of Champions League qualification with five games to spare, so now we can look forward and try to be competitive to the end.”

This result means Inter are momentarily 12 points clear at the top of the table, awaiting Napoli and Milan matches over the weekend.

They went into this round with a nine-point lead and know that at the very least that will remain intact going into the final five rounds.

Inter now have to prepare for the Coppa Italia semi-final against Como on Tuesday evening, as the first leg ended 0-0 at the Stadio Sinigaglia, so it is all to play for.

Having received so much criticism this season, Chivu is still on track to end the campaign with two trophies.

“There are human elements too, we mustn’t forget how tough it was for these lads last season, but they challenged themselves, did not back down, and always reacted during ups and downs in the season.

“They built something here over the last few years, and were determined to maintain the good things they had been put together.”

How does Chivu think Inter can step up a gear next season to be competitive in the Champions League as well as in Serie A?

“It’s not easy, as you are up against teams of a certain level, especially the Premier League sides that spend an incredible amount of money to keep reinforcing. We have a thousand examples of teams who spent so much and still discovered it’s no guarantee of Champions League success.

“We want to be competitive, one of the objectives of all clubs is to qualify for the Champions League, so it’s not a joke really, because everyone want to participate in that tournament.”

Inter President Beppe Marotta said before the match that a new contract with Chivu would not be an issue.

“I never talked about this to them, because I was busy with achieving the Champions League qualification. Is it achieved? No, not really. I’m not superstitious, I just prefer to focus my energy on football and not my future,” replied the coach.