Inter Milan defeated Porto on Tuesday in a tense 0-0 draw to advance to the quarterfinals of the Champions League with a 1-0 aggregate victory. The Italian team, which has won this competition three times, reached the round of eight for the first time since 2011.
Both AC Milan and Inter Milan have reached the quarterfinals for the first time since 2006. Inter is all set to frustrate at the Estadio do Dragao after taking a one-goal lead from Romelu Lukaku’s late winner in the first leg of the last 16 playoffs.
Porto had the better of the game however simply figured out how to test Entomb goalkeeper Andre Onana on a couple of events and neglected to make the last eight Their best chances came in the final minute when Mehdi Taremi and Marko Grujic both hit the crossbar and Marcano had a shot saved.
Entomb have confronted analysis for their homegrown structure however Calhanoglu said this game gave a spirit help.
Edin Dzeko and Lautaro Martinez started at the front for Inter, with Romelu Lukaku, who won the first leg, on the bench. Coach Simone Inzaghi was trying to get the team back on track after a poor run of results away from home.
Despite Porto’s strong record against the Italians:
Despite Porto’s strong record against Italian teams, including victories over Juventus and Roma in recent seasons, the Portuguese champions failed to score in 180 minutes against Inter. Because they lost their captain at the last minute, they were unable to include veteran center-back Pepe, who was 40 years old, in the team.
Stephen Eustaquio stepped in for Otavio, who was sent off at the San Siro and impressed. Porto was also without Otavio. Matheus Uribe lashed a horrible strike only wide of Entomb’s objective right off the bat, while Porto goalkeeper Diogo Costa made strong recoveries from Dzeko and Nicolo Barella.
For much of the first half, Sergio Conceicao’s team was in control, and Evanilson was only stopped by a superb sliding block from Federico Dimarco. Eustaquio was unable to receive Pepe, a Brazilian winger’s tempting cross, which would have given the hosts the lead just before the break.
Desperate Porto:
As Porto’s urgency increased, Grujic put Andre Onana to the test with a low drive, and Galeno also forced the Cameroon international to save.
Inter lost Alessandro Bastoni to what appeared to be a hamstring injury, but they held on to their slim advantage in the first leg.
As Inzaghi’s team fought back and prevented Porto from scoring at every opportunity, Milan Skriniar made his injury-recovery comeback in the closing stages.
Denzel Dumfries saved Marcano’s effort deep into overtime, giving Porto their first clear chance of the game.
In an agonizing final, the Portuguese team hit the post twice, first with Onana pushing Taremi’s header against the post and then with Grujic nodding against the crossbar.
We were better, had more possession, and more opportunities in the second half.”It was encouraging to see that the fans understood that we gave everything,” We truly needed to dominate the match.
“Now we are very disappointed,” says the author. “The Dragao atmosphere was spectacular.”
Pepe, the wide man for Porto, was sent off at the final whistle for a second yellow card, but Inter held on to win the game.
Inzaghi is under pressure because the Italians have only won one road game in 2023, but getting to the quarterfinals gives him more breathing room.