Bennacer: “These are 3 very important points for us and for our objective, Pioli told us we need to do more”

Ismaël Bennacer said it was difficult in the first half against Inter but ‘now we have to go on’ after winning the Derby.

Stefano Pioli started the Derby della Madonnina on Saturday with Sandro Tonali and Ismaël Bennacer in midfield and Franck Kessié as the trequartista, and he saw his side struggle greatly in the first half and also go down deservedly due to an Ivan Perišić (38′) goal.

Changes were made in the second half and Kessié was subbed out for Brahim Díaz. This changed the game for the Diavolo, who managed to score twice through Olivier Giroud (75′ and 78′) to win the Derby and give Inter only their 2nd defeat of the season.

“The first half was quite tough, they were set-up well and compact,” Bennacer told MilanTV. “Then in the second half we found more room to play. We scored the equalizer and that gave us the charge to turn the tide. The coach had told us we need to do more, we were missing something, all together even if we were on the right path we were missing something. So, as a team we gave more and we won.”

Bennacer also spoke to DAZN after the game: “In the first half they were very compact, we didn’t find spaces. We knew there would be more space in the second half and we did well. The Scudetto race? These are three very important points for us and for our objective. Now we have to go on.”

On playing between the lines: “We played a lot on the fullbacks, Inter also did well in the first half and were compact. What did we stay at the end of the first half? We said we need to do more. We were missing something but were on the right path. We had to do more, we did it and won.”

On if he’s ever seen Pioli run like this: “No, no [laughs]… it’s a special game, it’s normal that he’d celebrate like this. What did we say to each other in the hug at the end? I didn’t hear too much, there were so many screams. We were very happy.”