Ranieri proud of Inter progress

Inter Milan coach Claudio Ranieri paid tribute to his players after a 1-0 derby win over AC Milan transformed their title prospects.

Diego Milito’s goal in the 54th minute of Sunday’s match saw Inter come out on top at San Siro, where more than simple bragging rights were at stake.

The victory sees Inter move within five points of champions Milan and six points behind Serie A leaders Juve, with their Scudetto hopes very much alive despite a dire start the campaign.

“We are making huge steps forward and it was important to beat Milan, the first head-to-head in our favour,” Ranieri said.

“Evidently the other three defeats to Juventus, Napoli and Udinese taught us a lesson.”

“We were tight, tactically smart and ready to hit them at any moment. At times this season we played badly and won. Now we’ve been doing well and have rediscovered the energy to get back to our best.”

“From the first day I arrived I said the Scudetto is out in front of us. Juventus slowed down this weekend and we stopped Milan. The first thing was to get into the Europa League places, now the next step is the Champions League.”

“You know it is in Inter’s blood, in their DNA, to fight for the top titles, but this season we have to take it one game at a time.”

Inter rediscovered their winning touch after switching formations prior to the mid-season break, but Ranieri now has the challenge of accommodating fit-again playmaker Wesley Sneijder and centre-forward Diego Forlan in the starting line-up.

“I believe the wonderful and difficult thing is when a coach has options to choose from,” he said.

“We have great champions like Sneijder and Forlan who need to be introduced into this unit that has been doing so well recently.”

“They must be patient and slowly settle in, then they’ll be in the best condition to show us their quality.”

Ranieri also faced inevitable questioning about the prospect of Manchester City outcast Carlos Tevez joining Inter during the January transfer window, with the coach noncommittal on the subject.

“Tevez? Never say never,” he said.

“The media really want Tevez to come to Serie A, that’s for sure.”