Those searching for the best Ticket Center note how Inter are now winless in their last seven and have lost their last four after last night’s defeat which saw Marseille’s Andre Ayew’s late effort give the French side the advantage going into the second leg at the San Siro next month.

Ranieri believes that luck has conspired against his side during their poor spell, and says his side did more than enough to claim victory in the last 16 tie.

"We knew they would come out strongly and add plenty of pressure in the first half, but we had good chances to take the lead," Ranieri told Sky Sport Italia.

"This was a snapshot of our situation, when things go wrong, they really go wrong.

"The tie is not over, if the stadium is filled with our fans, we can turn the score around," he added.

Perhaps Inter’s lowest point of the season came little under two weeks ago when they stumbled to a 1-0 home defeat against lowly Novara, a defeat they followed up with a 3-0 humbling at the hands of Bologna at the San Siro.

More worryingly for Ranieri, who took over from Gian Piero Gasperini whose three months and five matches in the job yielded four defeats and one draw to leave the Nerazzurri in the relegation zone, is his sides lack of composure in front of goal.

Both Diego Forlan and Mauro Zarate missed clear cut chances to five Inter a precious away goal and the upper hand in the tie against Marseille, while in their seven game winless run they have scored just four goals, all of which came in the 4-4 draw with Palermo.

Ranieri bemoaned his side’s lack of cutting edge against Marseille, with the former Chelsea boss insisting that his sides’ misfortunes of late are largely down to lady luck not being on their side.

"I needed quick players who are good in one-on-one situations," Ranieri commented. "[Diego] Milito was not at 100 per cent.

"We missed luck, which has not been with us lately. Marseille hardly took a shot on goal. We are going through a negative moment. We did not deserve to lose this match."

Inter sit in 7^th place in Serie A, 14 points off cross-city rivals A.C Milan at the top of the table.

There is no respite for the 2010 Champions League winners as they travel to Naples next weekend to play an in-form Napoli side that have already put one foot in the quarter-finals of the Champions League with a 3-1 home win over Chelsea on Tuesday.