'Conte is the Messi of coaches' - Inter defender Bastoni hails new Nerazzurri boss

Antonio Conte is "the Lionel Messi of coaches", according to Inter defender Alessandro Bastoni.

The former Chelsea, Juventus and Italy manager has overseen two wins from two games as he settles into life at San Siro, with Inter top of the Serie A table on goal difference.

It may still be early days, but following the signings of Romelu Lukaku and Alexis Sanchez from Manchester United, plenty have tipped Inter to provide a real challenge to Juve in this season’s title race.

Italy Under-21 international Bastoni does not want his team-mates to get ahead of themselves, but he is loving life under his enigmatic new manager.

“Everyone had spoken highly of Conte and I’ve only received confirmation of how great he is. As far as I am concerned, Conte is the Messi of coaches,” Bastoni told Gazzetta dello Sport.

“He is phenomenal, has exceptional footballing ideas and always wants to go on the attack. The training schedule is very tough indeed, but so was Gian Piero Gasperini when I played for Atalanta.

“The difference was that we were training in China over the summer and the humidity was incredible, so I admit that did make me suffer a lot. But when the quality level goes up, you must raise your game to meet it.

“There’s no point denying it, we want to change the way the Serie A seasons have been going recently. We have the Coach and the squad to do that, but must prove it one game at a time.”

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Bastoni is yet to make his debut for Inter, but has Serie A experience under his belt after coming through the ranks at Atalanta and spending last season on loan with Parma.

He signed a new five-year contract at Inter last year and, having consistently represented Italy from U15 to U21 level, will be hoping to make his first-team bow sooner rather than later.

For now, he is happy to continue learning his trade under one of Italy’s most revered coaches of recent years – even if his new team-mates might make life difficult for him in training.

“It’s tough marking Lukaku in training,” he admitted, “but on the plus side it’s good practice for when you do go up against physically strong strikers, because they’re a piece of cake compared to him! Romelu is like a force of nature.

“I’ve been so impressed by the humility of my teammates at Inter, despite them being some of the best in the world, and they give me such great advice. I’ve always supported Inter, so looking at myself in the mirror with this jersey on is a dream come true.”