ROBERTO MANCINI admits his Inter Milan side are struggling before they face Celtic next month after losing to Torino at home for the first time in 27 years.

And they also lost two key defenders to suspected hamstring injuries.

Inter are now just eight points off the relegation places in Serie A after yet another dismal display where they crashed to a 1-0 defeat in the San Siro.

Despite Mancini spending heavily in this month's transfer market and promising a Champions League spot, Celtic's Europa League opponents are struggling badly.

And the former Manchester City manager says his side need to start taking their chances. He said: "I was not happy with the four forwards for what they did in the final third, but for the rest of it the team did well.

"Clearly, it would have been important to start the second half of the season strongly. All we can do now is roll our sleeves up and push on."

Inter saw stoppers Marco Andreolli and Danilo D'Ambrosio both pull up with hamstring pulls.

And Mancini admitted: "We are getting really unlucky with injuries, as again I had to use up two substitutions because of injuries and that gave me few options to change things up."

After only two wins in nine Serie A games since Mancini replaced Walter Mazzarri in November, Inter are stuck in joint ninth alongside neighbours AC Milan.