Spezia coach Leonardo Semplici was delighted after their stunning 2-1 win against Inter Milan on Friday night.

Daniel Maldini opened the scoring after Bartlomiej Dragowski saved an early Lautaro Martinez penalty. He was beaten by Romelu Lukaku from the spot, but M’Bala Nzola converted the decider just minutes later.

“I congratulate the lads on their performance, we suffered in the first half and then changed a few things to find greater balance,” Semplici told DAZN.

“Initially, Szymon Zurkowski was acting as a trequartista and then had to play right behind the strikers when we had possession, but we changed because Inter were passing it around well. We moved to a four-man defence in the second half and the team defended better, suffering less under pressure.

“We beat if not the best team in the league, then certainly one of the best. This side must try to take the game to everyone and we fought hard against a quality opponent like Inter, reacting well to the equaliser and believing right to the end.”

He added, “When you take over a team mid-season, you have to create more self-confidence that perhaps has been lost, as well as bringing my own mentality and ideas. I did that initially by taking the whole squad out to dinner, as I wanted to get to know these lads.”