One foot in the semifinals. L'Inter sponge Lisbon with a well-deserved 2-0 and directs qualification: next Wednesday, in a San Siro that promises to be dressed up for the party, he could even lose with a one-goal difference and the "juice" would not change. It's not over yet, but the bulk of it has been done, so much so that the Nerazzurri will be able to sit back and enjoy the Italian derby between Milan and Naples tonight, aware that, if there are no clamorous thuds next Wednesday, the opponent in the semifinal will emerge from there.
Benfica - Inter 0-2, Barella and Lukaku conquer Da Luz
Deserved victory, we said, because the much celebrated Benfica, capable of overwhelming Juventus in the group stage, has never managed to command the game as he would have liked, limiting himself to creating dangers only in sporadic situations, without however being able to exploit them. L'Inter instead she had the merit of taking the challenge to the field most congenial to her, closing the spaces and exploiting those left by the Portuguese, with a cynicism and malice never seen in the last few outings in the league. After all, in the Champions League, performance has been decidedly different since the dawn of the season and yesterday we had yet another confirmation. And so, after a crescendo in the first half, the Nerazzurri took the lead in the second, first finding a 1-0 lead with Stretcher (51'), good at hitting the head on an assist from Bastoni, then doubling up with Lukaku (82 '), very cold in transforming a penalty decreed by the ex Joao Mario's arm. In the final, Benfica came close to making it 1-2 through Ramos, but Onana closed the door, maintaining a very heavy result, even if not definitive as with the old regulation on away goals.
Inzaghi: "It's not a personal revenge, we won the first round but everything is still open"
“The boys had an excellent match against a strong team and in a very hot stadium – commented enthusiastically from Inzaghi -. We have won the first round and there is great satisfaction, but nothing is closed yet. We hadn't won in the last few games, but we had excellent matches. We are in a moment of great effort, but we have to go further and enjoy this evening, I was very hopeful because in the last few games we had played and created a lot, beyond the result. My revenge? I work for Inter and I try to do it in the best possible way. I listen to criticism up to a certain point, but then you just have to work to do more and better".
Milan – Naples (21pm, Amazon Prime)
The show of Champions will continue today with Milan-Naples, the Italian derby destined to bring the tricolor at least in semifinal. A match for strong hearts that of San Siro, between two teams that arrived well beyond seasonal expectations and who now certainly don't want to stop, especially in the presence of a strong but not unbeatable opponent. The Azzurri, in the light of what has been done in the championship, certainly start with the advantage, yet the clash of ten days ago said exactly the opposite, aligning the forecasts a little more on the eve. Of course, this time there will be no differences in motivation or particular tactical surprises to mess up the plans, but only an inevitable load of tension to be managed in the best possible way: whoever knows how to turn it into petrol will almost certainly pass the round. It is probable, barring sensational twists and turns, that the games will be decided next Tuesday at the Maradona, so tonight we could see a Milan-Napoli different from usual, with various calculations and tactics dominating offensive actions and individual plays, also because the weakening of away goals further attenuates the desire to take risks. Proof of this is that Spalletti and his staff (technical and medical) have decided to give up on Osimhen, keeping him "warm" for the second leg: if it had been a final, they say from Castelvolturno, they would have risked, but this way the game is not worth it the candle.
Pioli: "It will be a different match than in the championship, Napoli are very strong even without Osimhen"
"Compared to the championship it will be a completely different thing, this is a challenge to be played over 180 minutes - he confirmed Pioli at the press conference -. We know we will have to play a great game against a very strong opponent, Napoli are the team that has scored the most goals in the Champions League and won the most games after Bayern, but we too have quality and we will try to put them on the field. Let's start from the same percentages, perhaps we can expect something different from them, we will have to be good at understanding them. I don't know if they will wait for us, if they will be aggressive… but my team will have to be good at knowing which spaces to take. Osimhen? He's a great centre-forward who has scored goals repeatedly both in the league and in Europe, but Napoli had always won without him before the match against us and remains fearsome even like this".
Spalletti: "We won even without Osimhen, we need a champion mentality"
"The strength of a team is not the bare addition of the components but of the quality, of how the players coexist with each other - the thought of Spalletti -. Up to now we have shown that we know how to choose how to play beyond the starting line-up, we have won important games without them osimhen, we are here to have done it. If you think that a league match is of interest only to fans of Milan and Naples, a Champions League match is of interest to fans from all over the world and the players suffer this, even unintentionally. It serves champion mentalitythe. Is she the most important in my career? I hope there are others more important than this. We are at a very high point in our career, I speak for myself but also for my players. We have to bring the desire, the enthusiasm where we started from”.
Milan - Naples, the formations: Pioli reproposes the 0-4 team, Spalletti forced to give up on Osimhen
At the level of formations, therefore, is better the Milan, who will be able to count on the entire squad except for Ibrahimovic, who in any case is not on the Champions League list. Pioli, after the (even excessive) turnover seen with Empoli, will re-propose the 4-2-3-1 with which, on April 2nd, he managed to win the championship match against Napoli, giving a sensational tactical lesson to Spalletti . The Devil will focus on Maignan in goal, Calabria, Kjaer, Tomori and Hernandez in defense, Krunic and Tonali in midfield, Diaz, Bennacer and Leao in the trocar, Giroud in attack. Napoli's problems, on the other hand, concern the attack, where in addition to Osimhen (he will return for the return match) Simeone will also be missing, who stopped due to a distraction of the right hamstring (two / three week break). Spalletti should opt for Raspadori, the only striker left to him, even if the Elmas and Kvaratskhelia hypotheses resist in the unprecedented role of "false nueve". The most likely blue 4-3-3 should see Meret in goal, Di Lorenzo, Rrahmani, Kim and Olivera in the back, Anguissa, Lobotka and Zielinski in the midfield, Lozano, Raspadori and Kvaratskhelia in the offensive trident.
