Cristian Chivu is hoping that Inter's 2-0 win over Borussia Dortmund will give his team the confidence boost they need to attack the latter stages of the Champions League.
The Serie A leaders left it late at Signal Iduna Park, with Federico Dimarco's stunning 80th-minute free-kick followed up by Andy Diouf's finish in second-half stoppage time.
However, it was not enough to gatecrash the top eight and automatically qualify for the last 16, with the Nerrazurri forced to settle for 10th place in the 36-team table.
Dortmund's victory saw them record back-to-back wins away to German teams in the Champions League for the very first time, having also defeated Bayern Munich 2-1 at the Allianz Arena in the first leg of their quarter-final tie last season.
Inter had lost their previous three league phase games coming into Wednesday's clash, with Chivu insisting that this team must use their win over BVB as a foundation to build on heading into the next round of the competition.
"We have what we deserve, so there's no point looking back on what we didn't do, but we should focus on what we did," Chivu told Sky Sport Italia.
"It wasn't easy this evening in this stadium, with the energy that the Borussia Dortmund fans give them.
"We played with maturity and I feel we could've had more determination in the first half to attack the lines, but we were a bit too superficial.
"This team is working hard, the improvement over the last two months has been exponential, and this result can give a real confidence boost to the side."
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Last year's beaten finalists will face either Bodo/Glimt or Benfica in the play-off round. Should they get through, Real Madrid or Sporting CP await in the last 16.
Mourinho oversaw another dramatic European encounter, with Benfica goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin scoring a stoppage-time goal to bea Los Blancos 4-2, bumping them into the final play-off spot on goal difference at the expense of Marseille.
Of course, Chivu was part of Mourinho's Inter squad that famously won the Champions League and treble in 2010.
"At this moment, my only thought is on facing Davide Nicola and Cremonese on Sunday, as that is the most important game," insisted Chivu.
"We are forced to sleep here tonight, as the journey is too long, so we'll train here tomorrow too. We must always think of the next match, which is always the most important."