Mancini praises Inter spirit

FC Internazionale Milano got off the mark in UEFA Champions League Group G with two first-half Zlatan Ibrahimović goals against PSV Eindhoven, and coach Roberto Mancini was delighted with how the home team held on after Cristian Chivu was sent off 25 minutes from time. PSV coach Ronald Koeman is already looking forward to the visit of Group G leaders Fenerbahçe SK in three weeks time, a team both his side and Inter trail by one point.

Roberto Mancini, Inter coach
We worked well as a team, especially when we were left with ten men and our attackers helped the rest of the side to defend. It was very important to earn three points tonight after starting the group with a defeat. There are still four games left so the road is still very long but today's victory was very important. I don't think we had such a bad game [when we lost at Fenerbahçe]. We were just a bit worried because we were missing several players, so we sat back a bit without playing as we can. However our physical condition has improved compared to two weeks ago and you could see it today against PSV. [Esteban] Cambiasso is a very intelligent player and can play well in every position with his tactical awareness so I decided to field him in defence when Chivu was sent off. We did not have other defenders but he did a terrific job. We are also happy about Ibrahimović's first goals [for Inter] in the competition. His goals are very important for us and we hope he will keep on scoring.

Ronald Koeman, PSV coach
I had a different scenario in my head for this game ahead of the kick-off. I was hoping for a good start but we were soon 1-0 down and after taking the lead Inter played their favourite kind of game. They waited patiently for their great players to create other opportunities and Ibrahimović scored a fantastic, but also a bit strange, second goal. Then I think we reacted well and we could have scored a goal trying to salvage a point in the final part of the game but Inter defended well. [On Ibrahimović] It's always good to see a player I have worked with in the past. He improved since then and tonight he was decisive for Inter, not only for the goals he scored. I think our group is very balanced. Inter are probably the strongest team but they have already lost one game, meaning that Fenerbahçe are also a very good team. We will face them in three weeks and it will be a very important game for us.