Stramaccioni: Inter can beat anyone

Inter Milan manager Andrea Stramaccioni believes his side are more than a match for any team in the Serie A after they ran out 2-1 winners over Napoli on Sunday.

Goals from Fredy Guarin and Diego Milito were enough to win Inter all three points at the San Siro, although the Nerazzurri had to dig deep in order to survive a late charge from Napoli, who pulled a goal back through Edinson Cavani.

With the win, Inter moved ahead of the Partenopei to second in the table, although they still remain four points adrift table-toppers Juventus, who recorded a 1-0 victory over Palermo over the weekend.

Stramaccioni believes his side's win over Walter Mazzarri's men helped send a strong message to the rest of the teams in the league.

"It is an important victory that shows we can challenge anyone," Stramaccioni was quoted as saying by the official Inter website.

"I have to compliment my players for being able to limit a great team like Napoli tonight [Sunday].

"Walter Mazzarri is in the third year of his project at Napoli and has found players perfectly suited to his style of football.

"It is my first year and I'm very satisfied, as we have a united squad that prepares well for games."

Stramaccioni also gave an insight into the tactics he used during the game and revealed he instructed his players to mark Cavani and playmaker Marek Hamsik tightly throughout.

"We tried to limit Edinson Cavani and Marek Hamsik first of all with intelligence and humility," the 36-year-old added.

"I asked Fredy Guarin to act as trequartista in the first half, then needed him to sacrifice himself marking Zuniga. I am happy with his performance.

"I didn't use a trident attack because Gokhan Inler, Valon Behrami and Hamsik have too much quality and it would've been too big a risk to our own stability.

"They are great at diagonal passes and we didn't want to end up in a one-on-one with Cavani."

Despite Stramaccioni's intention to nullify Napoli's attacking threats, the Partenopei had more than their fair share of chances to score, but a combination of wasteful finishing and good goalkeeping from Samir Handanovic helped restrict Mazzarri's men to a solitary goal.

Expectedly, Mazzarri was none too impressed with his side's profligacy in front of goal, although the 51-year-old had the grace to praise a clinical Inter side for their win.

"Andrea Stramaccioni's side did well to take all their scoring opportunities," Mazzarri mused.

"The game was in the balance right to the end, so that was what made the difference.

"The second half was our monologue. I complimented the lads for their performance, but pointed out they have got to be more determined in front of goal.

"Napoli had more possession, but Inter were clinical and took their chances.

"I am happy with the way the team played, but disappointed at the result."

Despite the setback, Mazzarri insisted he would not give up on their dreams of being crowned Serie A champions at the end of the season and urged his side to turn their attentions to winning the next game against Bologna.

"We will try to get back on track against Bologna," Mazzarri declared.

"Don't forget we have the same points as Juventus did last season and nine more than we had at this time in 2011.

"I cannot ask for more from my players, we were just unlucky. We accept the defeat and look forwards.

"Are Napoli and Inter both the anti-Juve teams this year? I don't know, we will just start thinking about Bologna from Tuesday."

For Inter, they will now shift their focus to next Saturday's game against Lazio at the Stadio Olimpico.