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“Having Lukaku out gave us a little help,” says Claudio Ranieri

UC Sampdoria - FC Internazionale - Serie A
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Sampdoria manager Claudio Ranieri believes Lukaku’s absence was vital to defeating Inter Milan this Wednesday afternoon.

It was a splendid afternoon for Italian manager Claudio Ranieri. The former Leicester boss watched as his team managed to end Inter Milan’s 12-game unbeaten run in Serie A. Although Antonio Conte’s squad controlled most of the game, with 62% ball possession and 23 goal attempts, Sampdoria managed to only concede a single goal.

After the match ended, Claudio Ranieiri praised his players as they continiously pressed the Nerazzurri and stopped them from securing a second goal.

“The guys had the right attitude, they suffered, they pressed until the end. We are really happy, we didn’t want to lose another game after the defeat in Rome,” said Ranieri. “Inter tried to win it. They are very dangerous in the final 30 minutes, they won so many games in the final minutes, this is an important win for us.

Nevertheless, Ranieri admitted another aspect that help them bag the win at Stadio Luigi Ferraris.

“Having Lukaku out gave us a little help. If he was on the pitch from the beginning we would have suffered more.”

Romelu Lukaku came off the bench in the middle of the second-half but failed to make a serious impact. The Belgian had picked up a minor muscle injury last weekend and therefore wasn’t fit to play the 90 minutes.

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