Post-match comments from Mancini, Jovetic, and Fans

After the 1-4 defeat at the hands of Bayern Munich, Roberto Mancini faced the media in the post-match press conference. He said a couple of things that I though were worth highlighting and you can read them below:

When asked about the nature of this defeat Mancini mentioned the fact that he has played basically the same 11 players in 3 matches in 6 days and that is very hard on them both physically and mentally. He said the only positive from the game was that "we didn't concede in the second half". A member of the media asked Mancini about his meetings with the higher-ups in the club earlier in the week and the coach responded by saying that he is calm and that he'll see what happens when they arrive back in Italy.

I had the chance to ask Mancini two questions. First I brought up the recent drama that occurred with Mauro Icardi and Wanda Nara and asked if he plans to start the season with Icardi as captain. He simply stated that Icardi is the captain and while he doesn't know what will happen in the future for now he is the captain. I also asked Mancini what he could expect to learn from this preseason while he is missing creative players such as Ivan Perisic, Ever Banega, and Marcelo Brozovic. Mancini admitted that they are "important players and without them we lose a lot". He expects them to add to the quality of the side once they join up with the squad but also will be looking to see if there are new arrivals in the transfer market.

At the mixed zone most of the Inter players were in no mood to talk to the press. A number of players ignored questions from the media, and when I tried to talk to Yuto Nagatomo he looked at me and with a little smile said he doesn't speak English. Stevan Jovetic was willing to stop and answer two of my questions. I asked him if he was looking forward to playing with Icardi or Eder more this upcoming season and he responded by saying "honestly I played a lot of time with Mauro last year" and "I would like to play with him". I then asked if he has a message to any prospective Inter fans watching this game to convince them to follow the club. Like Mancini he brought up the fact that this was the 3rd match in a couple of days and it is not easy to play especially in the heat. but once the rest of the squad arrives they will play better.

Outside the stadium I talked to a couple of fans about how they feel. One fan, Liam D. spoke on how he is looking forward to Mancini building off last year to create a great Inter again. Though the match didn't go well he feels that there are steps in the right direction and there is some chemistry there. I also talked to some fans from China and they talked about how even though the team didn't play well it doesn't matter since a lot of the main players weren't there but when the squad comes together for the start of the season they want to see Inter fighting for the top 3 (if not the title) and winning the Europa League.

Here are some of my pictures from the match (the quality of the selfies aren't that great btw):

View from the press box:

Mancini's press conference:

Selfie with Ranocchia:

Selfie with Nagatomo: