Inter Milan – Benfica: Inter, to the semifinals: ‘Derby della Madonnina’ to the European

Inter is the Champions League semifinal team. The Italian team, who did much of their homework at the Estadio Da Luz, certifies at the Giuseppe Meazza (3-3, 5-3 on aggregate) their participation in the next phase of the competition. Italian football will once again have a finalist in Europe, with Milan as the epicenter.

If Milan certified their pass on Tuesday, a day later, Inter met with their greatest rival. Not without suffering, because Benfica was not going to sell their skin cheap. With a tranquility that invited one to think that neither of the two teams was playing anything, the game passed without apparent shocks. Until Inter rubbed the lamp of his genius. The quality of him is only matched by the character of him.

Barella turned an inconsequential play into a work of art. He threw a croquette to get out of the first dribble, he stepped on the area and there where everyone rushes, he braked, raised his head and sent the ball to the left corner of the goal. If Inter needed reasons to think about the semifinals, number 23 had just given them one.

But football is capricious like fate. In the best minutes of the Italians, a ball from the right and an academic header from Aursnes brought a Benfica back to life and to the tie that had not caused any difficulties for Inter, up to now.

An underrated team

The second part was the verification that Inter’s classification is not due to chance, but rather to causality. The Italians are an armored team that doesn’t allow chances and severely punishes the opposing box. Lautaro, DiMarco, Barella, a group of players that does not belong to the super elite of Europe, but they fit like a glove in Inzaghi’s scheme.

When the game entered the trance zone, a quick combination between Mkhitaryan, DiMarco and Lautaro Martínez ended Benfica’s aspirations in Europe. The Argentine’s goal left the Portuguese team heartless and the next one, by Correa, turned Giuseppe Meazza into a party that neither the goals of António Silva and Maras, nor the final whistle of the referee would be able to silence.

The semifinals, guarantee of success

Decades have passed since Milan and Inter were not Champions League semi-final teams. Los blackblues they did not get it since the 2009-2010 season. Mourinho ended up crowning Inter at the Santiago Bernabéu against Bayern Munich. Milan have had to wait longer, the last season they visited this phase was in the 2007-2008, when he won his seventh European Cup in Istanbul against Liverpool.

Listening to the Champions League anthem in the semifinals has been a guarantee of success for both. But, not for Italian football. The last team from southern Europe that was able to stand at this stage of the competition was Juventus. The result of those two seasons was the same: final, Spanish team and defeat. Barcelona, ​​in 2015, and Real Madrid, in 2017, reigned in Europe.