Ranieri laments low confidence

Inter Milan coach Claudio Ranieri said his team’s 1-0 loss at Marseille in the Champions League on Wednesday reflected his side’s low confidence.

A goal from Andre Ayew in the dying moments of the match gave Ranieri’s side their fourth straight defeat and their sixth loss from their last seven matches.

The loss leaves Inter with it all to do in the second leg of the round-of-16 encounter, which will be played on March 13 at San Siro.

“We knew they would come out strongly and add plenty of pressure in the first half, but we had good chances to take the lead,” Ranieri told Sky Sports Italia.

“This was a snapshot of our situation, when things go wrong, they really go wrong.”

“The tie is not over, if the stadium is filled with our fans, we can turn the score around.”

The Italian coach was questioned about his tactical choices after Mauro Zarate and Diego Forlan were both included in his starting line-up against the Ligue 1 club.

“I needed quick players who are good in one-on-one situations,” Ranieri said. “(Diego) Milito was not at 100 per cent.”

“We missed luck, which has not been with us lately. Marseille hardly took a shot on goal.”

“We are going through a negative moment. We did not deserve to lose this match.”

In contrast, Marseille coach Didier Deschamps was delighted with the victory, and said his team must go to Milan in a positive mindset.

“It’s a big satisfaction to get the win,” Deschamps said. “Usually a goal at the end breaks in favour of Italian teams but we delivered a great game against a very strong team.”

“In the last quarter, we really pushed and Dede’s (Ayew) goal was the difference.”

“Now we’ll see how it goes in three weeks. I asked the players to push and I didn’t want to make a change during the game which would weaken us offensively.”

“We stuck to our tactics. There is always a risk with pushing on that you can be punished in the end, but scoring in the final minute didn’t give them time to come back.”

“Now we must be ambitious and must go there with the intention to get through, though Inter remain a great team.”