(Football news) Inter Milan have joined their city rivals AC Milan in the Champions League quarter finals for the first time in more than a decade after surviving a late pressure against Porto. They were lucky to escape with a 0-0 draw which subsequently took them through 1-0 on aggregate on Tuesday. It was a disappointing night for the Porto fans at a sold-out Dragao stadium as the defending Portuguese champions tried to narrow the deficit from the first leg in Italy.
Inter’s defence was very disciplined and they seemed content to hold onto their lead until they faced a serious threat in the added time. In stoppage time, Ivan Marcano’s effort was blocked on the goal line by Denzel Dumfries as headers from Mehdi Taremi and Marko Grujic hit the bar, as Porto finally came alive but it was too little too late. Defender Pepe was sent off for a second yellow card as Inter joined city rivals AC Milan for the first time when they reached the last eight in 2006.
With Napoli playing today in their second leg at the Diego Maradona stadium against Eintracht Frankfurt with a 2-0 advantage, Italy could have three teams in the Champions League quarters for the first time since 2006. After they earned a hard-fought win in the first leg at the San Siro against a Porto side who went ultra-defensive but Inzaghi’s took a careful approach that paid off as his players dug deep and preserved the lead with a great defensive display.
They waited for Inter to make a mistake but Porto on the other hand never really hit their stride until it was too late. Sergio Conceicao brought on Toni Martinez and Danny Namaso to make it three up front as Porto threw the kitchen sink at Inter in a move that almost worked in stoppage time as they were thwarted by the woodwork and some excellent goalkeeping from Andre Onana.
“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 — honour to this group”, Inter coach Simone Inzaghi told 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.”
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