Blind braced for 'difficult task'

AFC Ajax coach Danny Blind admitted his side face a "difficult task" in the first knockout round second leg at the San Siro after they squandered a two-goal lead at home to FC Internazionale Milano. Strikes from Klaas Jan Huntelaar and Mauro Rosales had put Ajax in command after 20 minutes, but Inter fought back in the second period, levelling with goals from Dejan Stanković and Julio Cruz

Danny Blind, Ajax coach
I was delighted to see the team play as well as they did in the first half. They stood up and the tactics worked out as we wanted, resulting in two goals. We hardly gave them a chance in the first half, although we were lucky at the end when they hit the crossbar twice. We expected them to be more aggressive in the second half and they were exactly that. They put more pressure on our defence and it was unfortunate for us that they scored their first so early. After that we didn't come into the play very often and Inter got better and better. We now have a difficult task in the return leg.

Roberto Mancini, Inter coach
I was not happy with the first-half performance. I was very angry with the players and it is a problem that is returning every week. We were too weak and too kind to our opponents, we were like spoilt professionals. But in the second half we recovered well.