Inter head coach Luciano Spalletti has defended his record at the club ahead of Saturday's key Serie A game against Sassuolo.
Spalletti's men enjoyed a 16-game unbeaten run at the start of the season, but their inconsistent form since December has left them scrapping for a top-four finish.
Fifth-place Inter are two points behind Simone Inzaghi's side and could finish as high as third if Roma fail to win either of their last two games.
"Yes, because I had the knowledge of who our opponents were, of the strength that Juventus, Napoli, Roma and the other protagonists have," he told a news conference.
"Last year, Inter had 16 fewer points than Roma and much fewer in general than the others, and now the numbers tell a decidedly different story.
"As coach, I'm happy with what we've been doing. We've made progress, there have been times when we've struggled but we're close now to being a strong side.
"We started with a gap we had to bridge, to see if there was any chance of competing with the two teams immediately above us."
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Spalletti sees the visit of Sassuolo as a "semi-final" for their league season ahead of the trip to Rome next week.
"This is like a semi-final for us," he said. "It's been a long season and now we have a kind-of semi-final, which can put us in a position to play a final against Lazio."
