Simone Inzaghi was in no doubt as to the importance of Inter's 2-0 Champions League win at Viktoria Plzen, as he looks to navigate a path through a group containing Barcelona and Bayern Munich.
Having fallen to a 2-0 loss against Bayern last Wednesday, Inter were faced with the prospect of starting a Champions League campaign with back-to-back defeats for just the second time (after doing so in 2006-07).
But Edin Dzeko's cultured first-half finish put the Nerazzurri in control, and Denzel Dumfries made the points safe after Pavel Bucha was dismissed on the hour mark.
Inter have now won three of their last four Champions League away games, as many as they had in their previous 12 such matches.
Having triumphed 1-0 at Liverpool in the second leg of a last-16 tie in March, meanwhile, the Nerazzurri have won back-to-back away games in the competition for the first time since October 2011.
Inzaghi, who began his news conference by labelling Barcelona and Bayern "the two best teams in the world at the moment", was aware of the importance of taking maximum points in the Czech Republic.
"We know we will face them, today the goal was to bring home the points," he said.
"We made easy a match that was not, no Italian team had won here in Plzen. It's a well-deserved victory, wanted by the boys, I'm happy.
"We are happy, because we knew that the opponent could not be underestimated. We knew the path of all the Italian teams that came here in Plzen.
"The boys were good, they remained focused, and I congratulated them in the locker room."
Inter never looked likely to surrender the points after Dzeko swept into the bottom-right corner. The former Manchester City and Roma striker has now recorded 20 goal involvements in his last 21 Champions League appearances (14 goals, six assists).
While praising the forward's contribution, Inzaghi highlighted the importance of competition in the Inter attack as he revealed Romelu Lukaku should return from injury after this month's international break.
"Edin was good, like all his team-mates. I need everyone in defence, in midfield and in attack," he added.
"After the break Lukaku will return, and from match to match I will choose the attacking couple who will enter the field."
Plzen coach Michal Bilek, meanwhile, rued the ruthlessness of the Bosnia and Herzegovina international, declaring: "I said yesterday that a shot on goal was enough for him to score.
"He is a very good player and even today he managed to score like this. For the rest of the match I think that our players managed to control him well."
Bisseck signs Inter contract extension to 2029
Yann Bisseck has signed a new contract extension with Inter until 2029.
The defender joined the club in July 2023 from AGF for around €7million and has since made 32 appearances in all competitions.
His initial deal would keep him at Inter until 2028, but the 23-year-old has signed a one-year contract extension.
Bisseck has played 11 times for Inter so far this term, including all four of their Champions League matches, making the second-most blocks (four) and the most interceptions (five) among his team-mates in the competition.
"I feel that the club has confidence in me, as does the coach: everyone has contributed to this renewal, and I'm happy with the progress I've made. I think this deal is a positive moment for everyone," he told InterTV.
"There are many things I can still improve. I'm not a perfect player, but I'm still young and there are many aspects that I still need to work on, especially from a tactical and mental point of view.
"Technically and physically, I've reached a good level. I think my mentality will be key to my future growth."
Indonesia 0-4 Japan: Visitors stay unbeaten with rout
Japan continued their unbeaten start to World Cup qualifying with a 4-0 victory over Indonesia on Friday.
Two goals from the visitors in either half were enough to seal the three points and get them back to winning ways after a stalemate with Australia last time out.
Ragnar Oratmangoen should have put Indonesia ahead, but he hesitated one-on-one with the goalkeeper, and Japan did not look back after that. They got a bit of fortune with their first goal, Justin Hubner deflecting a cross into his own net in the 35th minute.
Takumi Minamino got their second just before the break, finishing off a pacy counter-attack by darting onto the end of Kaoru Mitoma’s cross to sweep it past Maarten Paes.
While there was not much the goalkeeper could do with that one, he was at fault for the third as he gifted the ball to Hidemasa Morita, who coolly picked out the bottom corner just after the break.
Yukinari Sugawara came off the bench to round off the scoring in the 69th minute. He raced down the right wing and instead of looking to his options, he rifled it in from a tight angle at the near post.
Japan are up to 13 points after five games, sitting top of Group C, while Indonesia are bottom, still in search of their first win.
Data Debrief: Clinically done
For a team still chasing their first win, Japan are probably not high on the list of opponents they would want to face, and Indonesia were undone by their visitors.
Hajime Moriyasu's side created 0.79 expected goals (xG) to Indonesia's 0.72, while they only had four more shots than their hosts (12 compared to eight).
Japan took their chances, and though the win margin may look harsh, they were deserving of the three points, having dominated throughout the game.
Jamaica 0-1 United States: Pepi give visitors advantage in Nations League quarter-final
Ricardo Pepi's first-half strike gave the United States a 1-0 advantage over Jamaica after the first leg of their Concacaf Nations League quarter-final.
The hosts saw a penalty saved in the first half before their frustrations were compounded late on thanks to Mason Holgate's red card.
The USA had the lead just five minutes in – having smothered a Jamaica attack at one end, the visitors caught them out with a pacy counter-attack, with Pepi sweeping it into the back of the net.
Shortly after, Shamar Nicholson was brought down by Matt Turner when he tried to take it around him, but the goalkeeper made amends, diving low to his right to deny Demarai Gray from 12 yards.
In the second half, Holgate was denied a tap-in by Yunus Musah before Turner scrambled to stop Leon Bailey's corner from nestling into the net as Jamaica searched for an equaliser.
With 86 minutes on the clock, Holgate received a second yellow card in just over 10 minutes for dragging Brandon Vazquez back, meaning he will miss the return leg in Missouri on Monday.
Data Debrief: Hitting the mark
Pepi got the all-important goal on Thursday, and is the fourth player to score 12 goals for the USA before turning 22 years old, joining Landon Donovan, Jozy Altidore and Christian Pulisic.
But it was perhaps Turner who actually had the most vital interventions; he has now saved three of the eight penalties he's faced for the USA, including two against Jamaica.
Mauricio Pochettino also could not have asked for a better result from his first competitive game in charge of the Stars and Stripes as he became just the third full-time manager to win his first competitive away match, joining Bob Bradley (2008) and Steve Sampson (1996).
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