Inter Milan’s Simone Inzaghi, De Vrij admit Bayern Munich class after Champions League defeat

In what is becoming a common refrain from Bayern Munich’s beaten and humbled challengers — kindly form a queue, gents — defeat is followed shortly by an admission of the Bavarians’ sheer strength.

“We played a good game against a very strong team – one of the best,” said Inter Milan coach Simone Inzaghi after his side lost 2-0 on Tuesday (via @iMiaSanMia). “We could have taken the lead through Nicólo Barella and Lautaro Martínez before conceding a naive goal. The game could have been different. We did well to remain in the game until the end. I’m satisfied.”

Indeed, the visitors showed they belonged for the better part of half an hour before slumping after Benjamin Pavard’s opener for Bayern. The idea is naturally to show strong for a whole 90’, but with little at stake in the match, perhaps the bright spots are enough to hang onto.

Stefan de Vrij (centre-back): “The main thing was to qualify for the knockout rounds and we’d already done that,” said Inter center-back Stefan de Vrij in the post-match (via FCBayern). “However, we came here to play well. We knew it would be tough against Bayern, but we gave everything.”

Mission accomplished, even if Bayern were just a cut above. But the season is long, and form can sway in the wind — just ask the Bavarians. If Inter make it through the Knockouts gauntlet, these two teams will meet again. But it assuredly won’t be for a while.

Interested in more analysis of the game? Why not check out our postgame podcast? We discuss how Inter stacks up against the big boys of the Champions League and how Julian Nagelsmann’s Bayern has shown some swagger recently. Listen to it below or at on Spotify.

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