Inter coach Roberto Mancini put on a brave face after the 2-1 defeat in the Milan derby and guaranteed that his players would win at Siena next week to clinch a third straight Scudetto.
Brazilian star Ricardo Kaka set up Filippo Inzaghi for Milan's first and then scored the team's second shortly after, with Julio Cruz's long, curling free-kick the only reply from Inter.
The outcome, coupled with Roma's 3-0 victory at Sampdoria, cut Inter's lead over the Romans to just three points with two rounds remaining.
"Without a doubt on Sunday at Siena, we will win the Scudetto," said Mancini.
"Milan played better in the first half and we offered very little. We then conceded a Filippo Inzaghi goal and then we made a mistake which we don't usually do and which allowed Kaka to score.
"Mistakes happen and you have to accept them, but certainly conceding the second goal shortly after was difficult for us."
Inter, with Hector Cuper at the helm, crashed to a heavy defeat against Lazio on the final day of the 2001/02 campaign to allow Juve to win the championship.
But Mancini insists there is no reason to worry this time around with a visit to Cuper's Parma on the final day to come after the home match with Siena.
"We knew it was going to be difficult and although we scored, we knew that this game could go either way," he said.
"I had that out of the three games we had remaining, we could have lost today's game and that was the case.
"I didn't expect Roma to lose points in Genoa against Sampdoria, either."
Mancini then offered an excuse as to why his team has not already clinched the crown.
"I think the biggest problem for us has been the injuries we've had this season," he said.
Source: Sporting Life
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