Spalletti happy to beat complacency and SPAL as Inter rolls on

Inter head coach Luciano Spalletti praised his team's belief after suffering against SPAL in Sunday's 2-1 victory.

Inter players celebrate their win over SPAL on Sunday.

Luciano Spalletti revelled in Inter's hard-fought win over SPAL as the in-form Serie A side showed belief which is something it "did not used to have".

Inter celebrated its sixth successive victory in all competitions thanks to captain Mauro Icardi, who scored twice in a 2-1 triumph at SPAL on Sunday.

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Spalletti's men came into the match following a Champions League win against PSV, but Inter looked set to share the points after Icardi's opener was cancelled out by SPAL's Alberto Paloschi with 18 minutes remaining.

However, Icardi restored Inter's lead 12 minutes from the end, much to the appreciation of Spalletti – who praised his team's belief having suffered against SPAL.

"The first enemy after a Champions League win is complacency, the risk everything might seem as if it's normal," Spalletti told Sky Sport Italia .

"We had to make choices, ensuring the team didn't feel they weren't first-choice players. Some choices were forced, as Danilo D'Ambrosio had a few issues and we ended the game with some tiredness.

"The players worked so hard, suffered under pressure when SPAL returned with a vengeance and at times we have difficulty playing our way out of defence, so we lost some balls that allowed SPAL to really pin us back for a while."

Spalletti added: "When we've come up against teams that cause us problems with intensity, we have allowed them something, the way we did [on Sunday]. The good news is that when SPAL equalised, we poured forward, we reacted and went to get the three points.

"That kind of belief and reaction is something my team did not used to have, but does now and that is very, very important."

Icardi had only scored once previously in Serie A this season, but the Argentina international forward – who netted in the 2-1 win at PSV – took his tally to three league goals in 2018-19.

"I scored 29 goals last season, it's not as if I was having such a dry run! I am happy if goals come, but the important thing is that Inter get the victory and I work for the team," Icardi said.