"When a team puts on that kind of display, really at the end of the match they should not be on the beaten side, even against opponents of the stature of Manchester United," Spalletti said.
"If anyone deserved to score more goals today it was us rather than Manchester," he said.
The sometimes highly strung Ibrahimovic was on his best behavior -- not that that could be said of two of his team-mates who were sent-off -- and earned plaudits from both coaches.
Inter handler Roberto Mancini contented himself by saying everyone was very happy for him.
Barcelona coach Frank Rijkaard was certainly not in the same frame of mind as Mancini far from satisfied with the performance.
"I was not impressed with the first-half," he said.
"We started well, but we were thoughtless with our chances," Rijkaard said. "Those are problems which we must address, because you can't afford to waste them in a competition like this."
On that basis Ferguson will be content to keep on winning 1-0 and Wenger that winning ugly is better than playing pretty and ending up with nothing.
RSS