Inter Milan secured a spot within the Champions League quarterfinals for the primary time in over 10 years Tuesday night, withstanding a tense onslaught from Porto to emerge unscathed with a 0-0 draw, which noticed them progress 1-0 on mixture.
It was a disappointing evening for the house followers at a sold-out Dragao stadium because the Portuguese champions tried in useless to wipe out the slim deficit from the primary leg in Italy.
A disciplined Inter aspect appeared content material to carry on to their lead and didn’t face a critical risk till added time.
Then Ivan Marcano’s effort was blocked on the objective line by Denzel Dumfries and headers from Mehdi Taremi and Marko Grujic hit the submit and bar respectively as Porto lastly got here alive.
Defender Pepe was then despatched off for a second yellow card and Inter joined metropolis rivals AC Milan within the quarterfinal draw, the primary time they’ve reached the final eight since 2006.
With Napoli enjoying on Wednesday of their second leg at residence towards Eintracht Frankfurt with a 2-0 benefit earned in Germany, Italy may even have three groups within the Champions League quarters for the primary time since 2006.
“We played an excellent game, the group stayed compact and played a great match. Excellent first half. In the last part of the match we all suffered together – honor to this group,” Inter coach Simone Inzaghi advised Mediaset.
“In football, luck matters relatively. In the two-legged match, we deserved to advance. Now we will play the quarterfinals with a lot of confidence.”
After incomes a hard-fought win within the first leg towards a Porto aspect who went to Italy with an ultra-defensive sport plan, Inzaghi’s aspect took a cautious method that paid off as his gamers preserved the lead with a steadfast show.
They waited for his or her hosts to point out their hand however Porto by no means actually hit their stride till it was too late.
Not till late on, when coach Sergio Conceicao introduced on Toni Martinez and Danny Namaso to make it three up entrance, did Porto throw all the pieces at Inter in a transfer that just about labored in stoppage time once they have been thwarted by the woodwork.
Source: www.dailysabah.com
