MILAN: Inter Milan coach Roberto Mancini still believes his side can qualify for the Champions League next season even after their shock 1-0 home defeat against Torino on Sunday which he described as "cruel".
"Strange things can happen in football and we could easily claw back five or six points in one month," he told Rai sport after their first home defeat to Torino for 27 years.
"I'm sure the team is good enough to do it, we just have to start winning." Inter dominated the game, although they struggled to create chances and paid the price when Emiliano Moretti headed Torino's winner in the fourth minute of stoppage time after being left unmarked at a corner. After only two wins in nine Serie A games since Mancini replaced Walter Mazzarri in November, Inter are stuck in joint ninth alongside neighbours AC Milan, and are eight points adrift of third place which earns a Champions League playoff round spot.
"I think we played the right way today. One failing was that we didn't create enough movement around their penalty box," said Mancini, who won three Serie A titles in a previous stint at the club. "Football can be a cruel game, but there's nothing we can do about it. I think we're on the right track."
"We went to sleep on their goal. We shouldn't have gifted them a corner at that stage of the match and then we were poor in our marking of Moretti," he added. "But we didn't deserve to lose or even to draw today.
We were always on top against a side that defended all game long." Mancini is Inter's seventh coach since Jose Mourinho left after winning the Champions League, Serie A and Coppa Italia treble in 2010.
Inter have failed to qualify for the Champions League for the last three seasons and missed out on European football altogether last season.
"We're looking to build for the future," Inter president Erick Thohir told the club's official website. "A lot of the players we're signing at the moment are young but at the same time we have more experienced players who provide balance to the team."
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