Football
Ben Gladwell, Italy correspondent 7y

Inter Milan 'cannot look for excuses' for Europa League exit - Mauro Icardi

Mauro Icardi says Inter Milan needed to "go home, get our heads down, keep quiet and work hard" after they were eliminated from the Europa League on Thursday night.

The Nerazzurri squandered a two-goal lead at Hapoel Be'er Sheva to lose 3-2 and have their elimination from Europe sealed with one group game to spare.

It is the first time since winning the Champions League in 2010 that Inter have been eliminated from a European competition as early as the group stage and Icardi said there can no longer be any excuses after yet another disappointing result.

"What we saw tonight happens often," the Inter captain said. "As soon as we sit deep behind the ball, mentally we create problems for ourselves and we concede goals. We have to start again with a good team spirit and hard work at the training ground.

"We cannot look for excuses, like it's nearly the winter break or that results haven't been on our side of late. We should have won this game after the first half we had. Now let's go home, get our heads down, keep quiet and work hard."

Inter can now turn their full attention to climbing up the Serie A standings, with eight points still separating them from third place. Finishing in the top three and qualifying for the Champions League was the objective they set at the start of the season.

Coach Stefano Pioli, who followed up a draw in his first game in charge against AC Milan at the weekend with Thursday's defeat, admitted he has got a lot of work to do if he is to deliver on the club's expectations.

"We're going to have to work very hard," he said. "We dominated proceedings in the first half and just needed to maintain the same approach, but after the break we stopped playing as a team. We took things for granted and we can't be happy with the way we played.

"It's first and foremost a mental problem. We didn't play like Inter in the second half. Games last 95 minutes and we came apart and ended up letting the opposition in at the back in ways we cannot and must not let happen again."

Inter host Fiorentina, who are still on course to reach the last 32 of the Europa League, on Monday before travelling to Napoli next Friday for two tough fixtures against fellow rivals for the top three. Their European campaign then comes to an end at the San Siro against Sparta Prague.

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