Roberto Mancini said Inter Milan won’t give up their hopes of reaching next season’s Champions Leagues after a cagey 1-0 win over 10-man Frosinone that saw Mauro Icardi hit his 50th goal in 100 Serie A appearances.
“We’re not giving up, but we’ll see what happens at the end of the season,” Mancini told Mediaset yesterday.
Inter, the 2010 winners, have not played in the Champions League since the 2011-2012 season and Mancini’s men could be forced to wait another year before hoping to rejoin Europe’s premier club competition.
With Juventus six points clear of Napoli at the top of Serie A and heading for a record-equalling fifth consecutive title, the league’s third and last Champions League qualifying spot has become hot property with Roma, Inter and Fiorentina all within seven points of each other with six games to play.
Icardi has yet to play in the Champions League and admits he doesn’t want to contemplate looking at the table over the remaining six games. But after hitting his 14th goal of the campaign, the Argentinian indicated he is desperate to play in the competition. “I don’t want to speak about the Champions League. All I can say is we have to win every game, and then we’ll see where we end up,” said Icardi.
“In football, anything can happen. But I want to say one last time, I’m here to win and achieve great things.”
Brazilian midfielder Felipe Melo echoed his thoughts, saying: “Hope is the last thing to die and we have to keep on fighting to get into the Champions League.” If Inter do upset the formbook and finish among the top three on May 15, the final day of the season, big improvements will be expected for their upcoming European challenge.
Inter had collected only three points from their last six away games, meaning relegation-haunted Frosinone had plenty of reason to believe they could cause an upset.
Mancini’s men created the lion’s share of the chances over the game, but were ultimately lucky to escape with the win after Frosinone hit the woodwork twice after the interval and saw Daniel Ciofani’s late effort go close. “We’re disappointed because there was very little between us and Inter,” said Frosinone coach Roberto Stellone.
“They beat us with a great goal from a top striker, but I can’t criticise the lads.”
Inter finally broke the deadlock on 74 minutes, Icardi driving the ball out wide to Ivan Perisic then rising to meet the Croatian’s delivery to send his header over Leali from eight yards. Minutes later Stevan Jovetic missed the chance to wrap up the points when he curled just over from the edge of the area.
Inter were boosted when erratic Leonardo Blanchard saw red for a studs-up challenge on Jovetic, barely 10 minutes after receiving a first caution for a challenge on Icardi.  
Nevertheless, the hosts pressed for a late leveller and were unlucky when Ciofani’s low drive trickled just wide of the far post with Samir Handanovic at full stretch.
The result left Frosinone second from bottom, but just one point from safety.
“There’s six games left,” added Stellone. “We’ll be hoping our rivals drop some points on the way, but we have to give it everything and win as much as possible.”

Results
Frosinone 0 Inter Milan 1 (Icardi 74)
Chievo 1 (Pellissier 83) Carpi 0
Sassuolo 0 Genoa 1 (Dzemaili 42)