MILAN – Primavera coach Salvatore Cerrone analysed his side’s performance following their Coppa Italia semi-final second leg against Lazio.

Here’s what he had to say:

“First of all I’d like to congratulate Lazio. Looking at the two games, they deserved to go through to the final. Having said that though, we made life hard for ourselves in the first leg, but obviously we gave it a good go in both the first and second half today. We were always in the game. The Guerrieri save from Bonazzoli’s volley could have changed the match mind you. But at that stage it can seem like your whole world comes crashing down, and the lads felt that. I tried to change things up, in terms of our tactics, when we moved to a more attacking system.

“Once again the three guys who came on did very well, they responded as I wanted them to, they had the right attitude. I can’t fault my players in any way, shape or form today, and it wouldn’t make any sense to compare this match to the league games against Chievo and AC Milan. We need to obviously look back at the mistakes we made in the first leg – when they won 4-2 – to avoid making them again in the future, as those errors made life very difficult for us in the return leg.

“We made it through the last four, having started out in the Coppa Italia in August, and we had a good run, beating sides like AC Milan and Chievo. Now we’ll focus on Cittadella, it’s an important step for us, we must stay together. Now we need to see our team spirit come through, we need everyone, they all need to be ready. I’m very disappointed but let’s look forward, the season still has a long way to go.”

APPIANO GENTILE – The Nerazzurri will be back in league action on Sunday against Juventus and Juan Jesus spoke to Sky Sport 24 earlier. The Brazilian began by discussing how the win over AC Milan had meant the team looked confidently towards the start of 2014: “I’m very disappointed with how the new year has started, we had the great derby win, and we played well against Lazio albeit wasted too many chances. Now we need to have belief, take things one game at a time and look forward. Is there more pressure because we’ve not been getting results? We play for Inter, there’s always pressure and it’s worse when you don’t win games. The lads are doing well.”

The Nerazzurri stopper then explained what targets the squad have set themselves: “The coach always says to us: we need to take things one match at a time and see where we are come the end. Are Juve always a frightening prospect, especially at home? We know Juventus are an excellent side who score a lot of goals, they hit three against big teams like Napoli and Roma, but I think the match will always be 11 against 11, and we need to fight for every ball. What’s the right approach? We need to be aware that Juve will go out all guns blazing because that’s what they always do, but we need to play like we did at San Siro. We need to stay calm and play football.”

What about on a personal level? “I feel I still need to learn because I’m young, I’m humble and I always listen to the coach who knows a lot more than I do. I’m still not satisfied because I can do a lot better. Mazzarri has always believed in me and that’s great because he’s an excellent coach. I always need his help because he motivates me.”

Just over a day away from the end of the transfer window, the defender was asked whether, as a part of the Nerazzurri squad, he feels they need something: “That’s up to the club to decide, if someone comes in who can help us, so much the better. Do I have anything to say to Hernanes? No, he’s a good guy, I’d be happy if he were to join the club. Would he make the difference? I know him from when he played in Brazil, he’s quality.”

Finally, JJ spoke about how he wants to be at the club for many years to come: “I’m here and I refused a lot of offers before joining because I wanted to play for this team and I’ll stay as long as Inter want me. What sort of Inter side will people see from now onwards? All I can say is the team has to try and perform because when you’re at Inter, you can’t just give 100% when the going gets tough, you have to give 1000%.”