And now? What will all the detractors of Inzaghi say, including those in society? Inter in Lisbon (2-0 over Benfica) takes a big step forward with an eye on the semi-final and beyond, given that this year they have already been right against both Napoli and above all Milan. It will be curious to see what Marotta will doif Inzaghi reaches the bottom of the Italian Cup and the Champions League, even catching a place in the top four of the championship, given that the drafts from Rome and Turin continue to tell of contacts with Conte that are now very well underway, with the signature on its last legs.
Inzaghi’s Inter in Portugal he didn’t play his usual defensive gamema exhibited a European football with great counterattacks always outnumbered. Let’s be honest: Benfica is only a distant relative of the one that made us feast our eyes in the qualifying round, risking burying a stunned Juventus under an avalanche. Now it’s a much more predictable team, and also less intense.
Sure, it’s impossible to keep the same form from the beginning to the end of the season and Schmidt’s bubbly football has lost much of its ginseng today, but above all it is the loss of Enzo Fernandez to have taken light and imagination away from his game. On the other side, Mister Spiaze is the Maestro of matches in or out and proved it once again. In these challenges he manages to transform his teams, to make them concentrated, ferocious, in some cases even unbeatable.
Inter presented themselves in the presence of the quarter-finals of the Champions League with two absences, Skriniar and Calhanoglu, replaced by Darmian and Brozovic. Inzaghi, then, he preferred Dzeko to Lukakuat least at the kick-off, e From Marco to Gosens. On the other hand, to be honest, Benfica are in even worse shape. On defense Roger Schmidt had to give up on Nicolas Otamendi, out through suspension, and Alexander Bah, who was seriously injured in the league match against Porto, sprained his right knee, with a medial collateral injury, and the season is over. They are two key players, above all the Argentine international, who is very aggressive and attentive to preventive markings, as requested by the German coach.
Il Danese, on the other hand, is the man who guarantees balance in the backward departmentor, the lateral with cover duties, unlike Alejandro Grimaldo, the thrust full-back on the other wing, 13 assists and 5 goals this season, one of the most dangerous arrows in this Benfica’s quiver. But the Spaniard isn’t exactly at the top, and Schmidt remained in doubt whether to deploy him or not until a few hours before the match.
The heaviest loss, however, compared to the glittering team in the qualifying round that had stopped Paris St. Germain even at the Parco dei Principi and planed Juve both in the first leg and in the second leg, as we said before, is Enzo Fernandez, who left the Lusitanians a nice suitcase of millions from Chelsea as a dowryhowever significantly emptying the quality of Schmidt’s midfield.
Despite everything, Benfica has a curriculum that could be frightening: 27 games played, 68 goals scored and just 16 conceded, first with a 7-point lead over Porto in the league, and only two defeats, never beaten until now in the Champions League. But the last one has arrived just now, at the expense of Conceicao’s troop that Inzaghi has just liquidated in the round of 16, a 2-1 comeback, against a more lackluster performance than usualor. On the other hand, the player from Piacenza usually doesn’t miss these games. For all these reasons, it would be better not to shout it too loud for superstition, but it was logical to feed some hope before the start.
Then you know the word passes to the field. And after the initial minutes of study, the first ring came from Inter in the 8th minute, crosses from Barella and Dzeko, free in front of the goalkeeper, didn’t get there by a whisker. The Nerazzurri started wellnot being crushed in his own area by the pressure of the Lusitanians, and managing to appear even at full strength in the half field of the hosts. The usual Dzeko is the playmaker centre-forwardLautaro finally doesn’t seem like the dull and bewildered player of his last appearances in the league, while Gilberto seems to be suffering from Di Marco’s advances.
However, as time goes by, Schmidt’s men begin to develop their pressing tarantolato and become dangerous. In the 15th minute Rafa Silva volleyed after a mistake by Di Marco who involuntarily gave him the ball, and Onana responded with an excellent save. Five minutes and after a lick in the area, Joao Mario tries to score but misses the shot and the ball ends up on the bottom. It’s a game that goes in opposite waves: the first ten minutes were Inter, then Benfica until the twentieth, and then again the Nerazzurri, who with Acerbi ended a long ball possession by touching the top corner with a wave from a distance. It’s not a very good game, as very often happens with Inzaghi’s teams, who are especially good at putting the opposition on hold.
Ma this time Inter doesn’t just break the game. He plays with courage, and creates more than one dangerous action: in the 39th minute Barella invents a left-footed cross that bypasses Antonio Silva reaching the far post where Dzeko really misses it by a whisker. And in the 43rd minute, on Di Marco’s cross, Lautaro missed the hook from the penalty spot with the ball passing between his legs. It’s an Inter that confirms the remarkable progress of the last few days, because with Fiorentina he didn’t deserve to lose and with Salernitana he amply deserved to win. Inzaghi has staked everything on this phase of the season to lead the team towards top form. He threw away the championship, but now we’ll see if it was worth it. However, this first half told the story of a very concentrated, attentive team that risked little or nothing, apart from Rafa Silva’s shot, and that with a little more conviction could really try to score even in Lisbon.
And as you wanted to prove, after 6 minutes in which he lets Benfica ventat the Nerazzurri’s first full-staff restart, with five men launched into the hosts’ area, Barella arrives at the far post to head Bastoni’s cross. A lesson in modern counter-attack, reversing the action not with the classic long ball and pedaling but occupying Benfica’s half of the field in numerical majority. Then on these occasions you also need a little luck, which comes a few minutes after taking the lead with an error by referee Oliver who does not see a perhaps more than suspicious penalty foul by Bastoni who kicks Aursnes in the scrum only in front of the door, in an attempt to anticipate it.
Apart from this thrill, Inter are getting married in the spaces that Benfica are forced to give them. Also because tonight it’s not the same team that took out Porto, all heart and bolt. As then, he defends admirably, but today he never gives up on restarting and every time he succeeds he sinks the action almost to full strength with a speed superior to that of the Lusitanians. Only after half an hour did Inzaghi ask his players not to go all on the attack, but even so he dominated the match.
First a Mkhitarian’s left foot from close range to conclude another very fast reversal in front, with Vlachodimos who manages to repel the pitfall. Then Dumfries, in a photocopy of Barella’s goal, headed Bastoni’s cross and only a miracle from the goalkeeper denied him the goal. Soon after again Dumfries and Morata move away on the line. It’s time for the Dutch fullback: on his cross Joao Mario detaches in a disorderly way and touches the ball with his hand. Var and penalty. Lukaku, who replaced Dzeko, makes it 2-0. And it doesn’t end here: Gosens peels the ball a stone’s throw from the goal on the umpteenth restart. Benfica disappeared from the field. It only shows up at the endin the last minute: shot by Ramos and great save by Onana, who so he also puts his signature on 2-0. When he returns, he can only continue to play the game he prefers. Defense and counterattack. As taught by the Master, mister Spiaze.