Spalletti claims Inter-Lazio was 'totally in the balance' before shootout

Luciano Spalletti insists Inter’s Coppa Italia quarter-final with Lazio was “totally in the balance” and his task now is to get Ivan Perisic and Radja Nainggolan back on track.

The Nerazzurri had cancelled out Ciro Immobile’s goal with a Mauro Icardi penalty in the last kick of extra time, but were beaten in a shoot-out.

“You should do me a favour and ask someone else to say if that was a penalty. If the free kick hasn’t been taken yet and someone punches somebody in the box, it’s still a penalty,” a visibly angry Coach told Rai Sport.

“It’s better to talk about the development of the game. I am not in any position to analyse these incidents.

“We started a bit tense, but the game started to develop, we were in it all the way, but then got a bit frenetic and that doesn’t work against Lazio.

“We lacked some sharpness in our passing and when Lazio welcomed us forward, we had to move it from right to left and back again, otherwise they’d have five defenders behind the ball. You’ll never hurt them without doing that.

“It seemed to be a game totally in the balance and could only be decided on penalties.”

Nainggolan came off the bench and missed the decisive penalty, while Perisic did not feature after the distraction of his rejected transfer request for Arsenal.

“We’ve got to get Perisic back on track, but also Nainggolan, as he had injuries, setbacks and various issues. He needs time on the field and patience.

“As for Perisic, there was this story on the market, but he is a professional, understands his role and yesterday it was already a very different mood. These things happen in the transfer window, the player received an impressive proposal and was tempted. However, he then realised it was not a true offer, that he’d been conned, and took a step back.

“Now he’ll resume training and as soon as his mind is back fully on Inter, we’ll let him play.”