Inzaghi: ‘Bastoni is world class, no doubts about Inter players’ in 2-0 victory

ROTTERDAM, NETHERLANDS – MARCH 05: Simone Inzaghi, Head Coach of FC Internazionale, reacts during the UEFA Champions League 2024/25 Round of 16 first leg match between Feyenoord and FC Internazionale Milano at De Kuip on March 05, 2025 in Rotterdam, Netherlands. (Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)

Simone Inzaghi hails ‘world-class’ Alessandro Bastoni after Inter beat Feyenoord 2-0 in the Champions League Round of 16, assuring he had ‘no doubts’ his players would step up.

Marcus Thuram and Lautaro Martinez secured a 2-0 advantage, and it could’ve been 3-0, had Piotr Zielinski not seen his penalty saved by Timon Wellenreuther at the 65^th minute.

However, they kept yet another clean sheet, having conceded only one goal all season in this tournament.

“The lads did well, it was not easy in this stadium,” Inzaghi told Amazon Prime Video Italia and Sky Sport Italia.

“The fans gave us a big hand too, we knew that we’d have to suffer. We stayed solid, played very well, now we have another game this weekend before the second leg. There are always hidden dangers and I am very satisfied with the performance.”

Inzaghi had total faith in reshuffled Inter

The Nerazzurri were relatively comfortable in Rotterdam, despite having to reshuffle with Bastoni as a makeshift left-sided wing-back due to the injury crisis, while Yann Sommer, Hakan Calhanoglu and Henrikh Mkhitaryan were only fit for the bench.

“I had no doubts on Zielinski and Asllani. A coach is here to make choices, but as Calhanoglu and Mkhitaryan had played against Napoli, I decided to rotate and keep fresh legs. We are happy to have such a packed fixture list, because it means we’re still in all the tournaments,” said Inzaghi

“The squad is totally at my disposal, Bastoni put himself to work for the team, alternating with Acerbi on that left flank. We are talking about a world-class defender who understood the needs of the team and that is what we coaches want to see.”

This is a strong result going into the second leg at San Siro on Tuesday March 11, especially as the players on a yellow card managed to avoid another booking this evening.

It was something of an unknown quantity, as Robin van Persie only made his debut as Feyenoord coach on Saturday.

“Feyenoord are a quality team, they decided to play with four forwards tonight, plus Paixao as a sort of trequartista,” continued Inzaghi.

“Although we studied their performance in the play-off with Milan, they played a different system this evening. Nonetheless, those two games certainly helped us to study them.

“We didn’t pass well at the start, but then we got into shape and the two goals made things easier for us. We knew they had very quick forwards and did well to defend when necessary, but we improved, and their press wasn’t as strong as at the start.

“We have won the first leg, it’s only half-time in the tie and on Tuesday there is the second at San Siro. Don’t forget this team scored three goals away to Manchester City,” concluded Inzaghi.