VERONA – Andrea Ranocchia was the first player to appear in front of the Inter Channel cameras after the Nerazzurri beat Verona this evening.

Complimented on his own performance, he said: "Thanks. It was important for us to get the win today and that’s what we did. I said the other day that we’d have a battle on our hands – the fact Juventus drew here tells you that – and indeed it was tough but it turned out all right for us.

"The ref got it right when Luca Toni wanted a penalty in the first half? Luca throws his weight around a lot, he was a handful to mark tonight. But the referee had an excellent game and got all the calls spot on. He deserves credit.

"I had an excellent game? It’s not easy coming back in when you haven’t been playing  I kept plugging away in training, even when we had free days with Pondrelli, waiting for my chance to come. I knew that when it did I’d have to be ready physically. I’m glad I’m back in the team, now I want to give the coach a selection problem by producing 155% right up to the very end.

"What’s it like seeing Inter in fourth, even if we have played a game more than Fiorentina? It’s great and the good thing is we kept a clean sheet today. We’re on the up and playing really well. We’re in great shape again fitness-wise, we’re all running our socks off from the first minute till the last. We need to keep hammering away because we still have lots of games to play and we can’t rest on our laurels."