Inter Milan coach Andrea Stramaccioni admits their season is on the brink of collapse after defeat to Palermo.

At this rate, Inter may well fail to qualify for Europe altogether, as they slipped down to seventh place.

"There are still another four very important games to go, including the head-to-heads with Napoli, Lazio and Udinese. Having lost our captain is a really heavy blow, but even the youngest players put their all into it today.

"So many of them are sacrificing themselves for the team and in the long run you pay a price for that. An error affected the result today, but I saw the right spirit and we must continue like this to the end. We hope to recover a few more players this week, otherwise it's extremely difficult.

"I do not want to hear any alibis, as these final four games must be played to the death."