Inter Milan put their heart and soul into Sunday's home game against AS Roma, according to manager Simone Inzaghi, but it wasn't enough to stave off a third defeat in a week which threatens to derail their season.
A 1-0 loss at the San Siro followed Inter's Coppa Italia exit after a 3-0 semifinal second leg defeat by AC Milan on Wednesday, and from a treble-bid, Inzaghi's side risk ending up with nothing to show for their troubles.
A second successive league loss, after last weekend's 1-0 defeat at Bologna, means Inter are level on points with Napoli who can open up a gap at the top when they host Torino later on Sunday.
"This week we come from three defeats which hurt, but the squad tried with great lucidity," Inzaghi told DAZN.
"In the first half we put our hearts into it, the fans saw that. Unfortunately, a very important game lost at home, but the embrace of our supporters made us happy, despite defeat.
"In the second half we put our soul on the pitch as always and they will always have my gratitude. We deserved more, but this is football."
Inter don't have much time to analyse their failures and will need to bounce back quickly with a Champions League semifinal first leg at Barcelona to come on Wednesday, the Spanish side fresh from their Copa del Rey success over Real Madrid.
"We are not used to three defeats, talking about corners, throw-ins, penalties, that's useless," Inzaghi said.
"We have to recover energy, in three days we leave for Barcelona, we don't need to look at their game last night to understand what kind of team it is, we go there with respect but not with fear.
"We have to react to this week at a busy time, a positive result can give you the turning point but we have to find it within ourselves."