ROME – "I couldn’t wait to get back on the pitch after so many months out – it felt great. But I’m disappointed about the result. It’s a tough defeat to take because we didn’t deserve to lose, but we must move on." That’s how Diego Milito began his interview with Inter Channel after the Lazio game.

"How are we to interpret the refereeing decisions that are going against us? It’s really hard. We keep saying the same things. They haven’t given us a penalty yet and I don’t think that’s normal. There was that foul on Rolando, Guarin’s burst forward that might have changed the game – episodes like that are penalising us at the moment. As I said, it was a bad defeat but we have to look forward. This team is alive. Hopefully we’ll put in a good performance on Thursday in Udine and we’ll go through to the next round of the cup."

El Principe went on: "We’re still having an excellent season. We’ve said lots of times that we’re building a team here with a new coach, so you expect ups and downs. It takes a bit of time and patience but I think we’re heading in the right direction. We can’t let up now. We have the players and the team, we’re training really well and I hope we can keep having a good season, then we’ll see where we’re capable of finishing come the end of the campaign.

"What can I offer Inter? I hope to give the coach an extra option. Both Icardi and myself have been out for a while. I really want to do my bit for the team after spending so long on the sidelines."