Stramaccioni defends youthful Inter

Inter Milan coach Andrea Stramaccioni does not regret fielding a young team in a 3-0 Europa League defeat to Rubin Kazan on Thursday.

Players like Vid Belec, Marco Benassi, Andrea Romano, Marko Livaja and Isaac Donkor all took to field as Inter fell victims to an early opener by Gokdeniz Karadeniz and a second-half double salvo by Salomon Rondon.

That defeat means Inter were forced to settle for second place in Group H.

Nevertheless, Stramaccioni believes the game would prove a valuable learning experience for the squad and will greatly benefit the younger players.

“Right now it does irritate me to have lost this way,” he said.

“We took the initiative for 70 minutes in a difficult arena against a team that was at full-strength. We conceded the goals at the very start and at the very end.

“We fielded a very young team and gave a debut to our ninth Primavera youth team player this season, proving our academy is prolific and sending a good sign for all of Italian football.

“I therefore compliment (Andrea) Romano, (Marco) Benassi and (Isaac) Donkor. We are happy to have given so many youngsters their debut in Europe.”