Moratti backs Leonardo after 'cruel' loss
Reuters - Wednesday 06 April 2011, 08:40
MILAN - Inter Milan president
Massimo Moratti is standing by coach Leonardo after two
heavy defeats in four days virtually ended their hopes of
retaining their Serie A and Champions League titles.
"My estimation of Leonardo hasn't changed," Moratti told
Inter's website.
"For me nothing has changed because I know how cruel
football can be and you have to keep going without losing heart.
"I don't like helplessness. We'll go on as we are and we'll
see what happens - we've won a lot playing like this and we
will win more."
Moratti blamed fatigue after Inter, reeling from a 3-0 Serie
A loss to AC Milan on Saturday, collapsed to a 5-2 home defeat
against Schalke 04 in their Champions League quarter-final first
leg on Tuesday.
"What I liked least was the tiredness in the team, you could
see the players were struggling. That's not to blame them, but
you could imagine that something like that might happen.
"The extent of the defeat did surprise me, but you could see
how tired they were on Saturday and you can't recover in just a
few days," added Moratti, who said he spoke to Leonardo after
the game.
"In football you always have to start over, even from
situations worse than this. In two games we were supposed to
achieve so much and yet in two games we've undermined nearly
everything, though nothing is definitive.
"It hasn't changed the essence of the team or the coach."
Inter's next match is at home to Chievo on Saturday.