Ahead of the Nerazzurri’s clash with Benfica tomorrow evening within the quarter-finals of the Champions League at the Estadio da Luz, Inter boss Simone Inzaghi provided his insight on the fixture within the pre-match press conference, highlighting the great deal of difficulty Inter will face while being confronted with the Portuguese giants.
As it stands, Inter have struggled heavily to find form within the domestic league as they are coming off their heartfelt 1-1 draw to Salernitana, making it their sixth consecutive fixture across all competitions without a win.
Consequently, Inzaghi’s men find themselves within a severe crisis as they sit in fifth-place with a total of 51 points, one point adrift of their cross-city rivals Milan, whom hold the final remaining Champions League qualifying spot.
With the Italian tactician facing an immense amount of pressure due to their unpleasant run of form within the Serie A, Inzaghi hopes that his men can regain confidence and shift the tide of momentum of their favour with an impressive result tomorrow evening on Portuguese soil.
While speaking to the media, as relayed by FcInterNews, Inzaghi previewed the first leg of the quarterfinals of the Champions League, putting emphasis on the significance of attaining a good result in order to enhance the Beneamata’s chances of qualifying to the semi-finals of the Champions League for the first time in 13 years:
There is a chance to make a breakthrough with these games. What is the key to facing this quarter-final?
“We know how important this match is. It was a difficult path, we find a team that is unbeaten in this Champions League and that has scored 28 goals, 7 of which in the round of 16, shooting 40 times. But we are Inter. The team has scored three good games in the league, not followed by the result but we shot a lot. There are moments when you touch it once you score, but now we have difficulty scoring. It has never happened in a year and a half until January. We have to work harder and believe, knowing that it won’t be easy. Together, and that’s the key word for the last two months, we can obtain satisfaction from each other. The goal was to get to play it in all competitions in April, we’re behind schedule in the league but we can come back.”
After Porto, Benfica, another Portuguese club.
“Benfica and Porto are two excellent teams. Benfica picks you up at the right time and in the right way, not obsessed with pressing. You’ll need your head and heart. I have no doubts about the heart, the head is important especially seeing the episodes of the last few games, which we shouldn’t think about. Benfica are a team that runs a lot, they’ve only lost two games this season, one of which on Saturday in the league. We’ll have to be good at playing our game.”
