Every word from Artetas pushes for Inter Milan | Press conference | News

After falling to our first Champions League defeat of the season on Wednesday night, Mikel Arteta faced the media at the Stadio San Siro.

He was asked about the team’s performance, his views on whether we should have had a penalty and gave an update on Kai Havertz and Mikel Merino.

On his assessment of the game…

The worst thing about the night is definitely the result, because the performance, the attitude, the dominance that we showed against one of the best teams in Europe in this stadium, I haven’t seen it in all the other games, I’ve seen it, but the reality is the result and we participated in it because we had many situations that we can solve much better in front of goal and score at least two goals and then also extremely frustrated because there are two decisions that at the end marks the result and the course of the game.

On the two penalties for both teams…

I don’t understand (the decision), it’s just a deflection, there’s no danger at all, you can’t react because you’re very close, but ok, they decide it’s a penalty. But if it’s a penalty then the one on Mikel Merino when he hits him in the head has to be 1000% a penalty and that’s the margins of this game and it’s very very difficult to accept.

If he feels we haven’t created enough chances…

The concern tonight is the result, and in both fields at the end we obviously didn’t do what we should have. When we didn’t do it, someone else didn’t, and that’s it. That’s definitely how I want to see my team. All the big games we have in Europe was by far the best we have played in the last few years.

How much the penalties decided the game…

Unfortunately there is nothing we can do, we won’t be able to change it, so unfortunately we have to accept it and move on.

About the handball rule and Havertz’s injury…

We were told at the start of the season that it was not a penalty, that was clear. Today was a different story. As for Kai, yes, he has a big cut. He needed to come off because he needed some stitches, but hopefully he’ll be okay for the weekend.

If Merino came out due to injury…

He did not suffer a concussion. But yesterday and today he was already not feeling well. After, when I looked at him, I decided to take him off because I need him 100%.

On why the referee spoke to him in the second half…

It was a private, interesting conversation.

If it will be difficult to get the players for Chelsea…

If we play the way we play, we have a great chance to win against Chelsea. This is the way we must go. I told them I’m proud of them. I haven’t seen them play in Europe the way we have today. We’re disappointed because we didn’t get what we wanted out of the game, that’s for sure.