The Milan clubs are set to meet again in another UEFA Champions League semi-final after Inter drew 3-3 against SL Benfica on Wednesday to complete a 5-3 aggregate victory over the Portuguese team.
After Nicolo Barella’s opener for Inter, Fredrik Aursnes restored some hope for Benfica shortly before halftime, but Lautaro Martinez and substitute Joaquin Correa netted in the second half to help Inter reach their first semi-final since Jose Mourinho led them to the treble of the Champions League, Serie A and Coppa Italia in 2009-2010.
Inter nevertheless relinquished a two-goal lead as Antonio Silva and Petar Musa netted late on for Benfica.
Photo: AFP
“Obviously I am happy, and I am happy for the boys because it is an important and historic achievement,” Inter manager Simone Inzaghi said. “We’ve come a long way, from a very, very difficult group.”
“With regards to the goals, their forward did well on the second goal and on the third goal we heard a whistle and so several players stopped,” Inzaghi said. “Of course I would have wanted to have won 3-2 and I’m more disappointed for the boys, but we were already through to the semi-final and there was that whistle that we heard on the bench too ... we would have deserved the win.”
The Nerazzurri face city rivals AC Milan in a repeat of their 2002-2003 semi-final.
AC Milan won that on away goals and went on to beat Juventus in the final.
“It’s a very special match, we know what it means to play a match of this sort,” Inter forward Martinez said. “Now we have to pick up points again in Serie A and then we’ll think about the Champions League.”
“I play this sport to win everything,” Martinez said.
Milan reached the final four of Europe’s elite club competition on Tuesday after drawing 1-1 against SSC Napoli to win their quarter-final 2-1 on aggregate.
Real Madrid face Manchester City in the other semi-final after the England-based team drew 1-1 against Bayern Munich to advance 4-1 on aggregate.
Bayern Munich manager Thomas Tuchel said that there was “no difference in class” between his side and Manchester City, despite the loss.
“There’s no difference in class. It looks like that from the results, but it’s actually a difference in self-confidence and in form,” Tuchel said. “For the little we allowed [Manchester City] to do, we were brutally punished.”
Tuchel took over from the sacked Julian Nagelsmann as Bayern boss earlier this month, despite the Bavarians boasting a perfect record in this season’s Champions League.
“We played against the best team in Europe today, the most in-form team in Europe,” the former Borussia Dortmund and Chelsea coach said. “We played completely on the same level, [but] in either game we didn’t have even a tiny bit of luck.”
Bayern had more possession than City in both legs and created a number of chances, but only scored once — a late consolation goal through Joshua Kimmich’s second-leg penalty.
Despite missing a spot-kick on Wednesday, striker Erling Haaland scored two and set up another of City’s four goals across the two legs.
“To beat the best teams, not just to measure up against them, but to beat them, you need to not only use 100 percent of your chances, but you need luck, you need decisions to go your way and maybe even a deflection,” the Bayern coach added.
Tuchel, who was sent to the stands late in the match when shown a second yellow card, gave referee Clement Turpin “a grade F, from his first to his last decision.”
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