Cristante: “Shame we conceded so late on"

Perhaps the main regret is having conceded a goal in such a careless matter. Prior to this Roma could’ve gone ahead with their only chance of the game. Given that the team weren’t at their best today a point would’ve been acceptable.

“Absolutely. We came into this game short on energy – we haven’t been able to rotate many players either. We prepared for the fixture with this in mind – we wanted to bide our time before trying to grab a goal. We conceded right at the end, which is a shame, because we were close to going home with a point.”

Are Inter a much better side than Roma, or did it just come down to fitness?

“I don’t think they are. Inter are obviously a top team and they’ve got greater squad depth than we have. We’re lagging right now because we’ve played many games in which we’ve fielded the same guys. We didn’t have the energy to press them high. We had to bear in mind these mitigating factors. I think we were doing, but then we conceded.”

[Jose] Mourinho came into the dressing room. Did he have a word with the players?

“I haven’t spoken to the boss yet.”

Would you agree that Roma, having been under the cosh in the first half and at the start of the second, conceded at a point in which Inter were struggling to create chances?

“For sure. They were superior to us in the first 45. However, like I said, this was a consequence of our approach – we wanted to sit back before going for a goal at the end. We were doing well, but then they scored an avoidable goal. It was hard to come back from that.”

Can you tell us about your role today? Maybe you would’ve been better deployed deeper in the middle.

“That was our gameplan. I played further forward today in order to try to score, through penetrating runs and getting my head on the end of crosses. I was half a centimetre away from scoring a header – that would’ve changed the game. It’s always easy to say what should’ve been done in hindsight.”

Do you agree with your coach’s assertion that Inter should cruise to the title, finishing 20 points ahead of second place? Is there such a gap in quality? How much did playing conditions today impact on you and [Romelu] Lukaku? 

“Inter have a big squad which allows them to play two games a week and to take off their regular players on the hour mark. In this regard they’re a cut above the rest in Serie A.