Inter head coach Simone Inzaghi believes that going behind against AC Milan in the Coppa Italia semi-final first leg helped his team lift their performance during their 1-1 draw on Wednesday.

Tammy Abraham had put AC Milan ahead just two minutes into the second half, though Hakan Calhanoglu replied 20 minutes later with Inter ending the match stronger.

"It was a derby. We could’ve gone in front in the first half with the De Vrij chance and the Frattesi move, then Milan had that incident to give them the lead straight after the restart,” Inzaghi told Sport Mediaset, as reported by Football Italia.

“I believe it ultimately helped us, because then our second half performance was better than the first, we created so many scoring opportunities against a Milan side that is tough to play against.

“I liked the performance from my players with a lot of sacrifices. There were only 14 outfield players available, because Marko Arnautovic and Federico Dimarco were in no condition to come off the bench. I had some youth team players who were ready, so I asked everyone to push a little harder.”

This was the fourth edition of the Derby della Madonnina in all competitions this season, with Inter yet to win a single one, having lost two and drawn two.

But even with Lautaro Martinez, Mehdi Taremi, Denzel Dumfries and Kristjan Asllani all out of action through injury or suspension, Inzaghi suggested that their performance merited more than a draw.

“I saw the first goal, there was an incredible ricochet between Thuram and Frattesi, the ball hung in the right place for Abraham and landed at his feet. I got angry at the time, but then I saw what happened on the replay,” he said.

“We had so many chances afterwards, Maignan made some excellent saves on Mkhitaryan and Zalewski.

“We knew that this was only the first leg, we hope to have more choices in three weeks’ time. We will travel to Parma in 48 hours, so we couldn’t take any unnecessary risks with our players.”

Inter have five matches to get through before the return leg, including a Champions League quarter-final against Bayern Munich.

While the physical toll on the players is unavoidable, Inzaghi was bursting with pride at how his players have tackled the latest busy period.

“We fought so hard to keep everything going in April, we played every match to the full. My dream as a coach is to have all the players available.

“My players are so eager to give their all for this jersey, it really makes me proud to be their coach.”