At 4:00 am on March 15th, , Inter Milan withstood the hostile host Porto’s fierce bombardment at the Dragon Stadium
Indiscriminate bombing, with tenacious defense and united determination, they won a valuable 0-0 and returned to the quarter-finals of the Champions League after 12 years.
As coach Inzaghi Jr. predicted before the game, the Nerazzurri encountered more difficulties than expected in this game.
Porto obviously played more freely on the field they are familiar with. Their ball possession rate was close to 70% in the game, and the number of passes was more than doubled. Until the last moment of injury time, they had the possibility of a perfect tie…
It can be said that such a Porto team, which is excellent on both offense and defense, has given them the most severe test of the season.
However, Inter Milan’s promotion is also undisputed. Every player who played gave the most satisfactory answer with their best performance: Damian made several key defenses in a row until he was cramped several times;
Extreme saves; Dumfries rescued the goal line at the last moment; Dzeko and Lautaro also spared no effort to return from the frontcourt to their own penalty area.
It is this “everyone for one, one for everyone” attitude that allows Inter Milan to have the last laugh in such a life-and-death battle that cannot be lost.
What is even more valuable in this game is that they demonstrated the ability of a mature giants to cope with the game in adversity, and it also shows that Inter Milan’s competitiveness in Italy and even Europe’s top competition stage is steadily improving.
The strength gap has also narrowed visibly to the naked eye-at least, at this moment, Inter Milan is one of the eight best teams in Europe in the 2022/23 season.
Last season, Inter Milan returned to the top 16 of the Champions League after 11 years, and became the only team to win at Anfield in the 2021/22 season; Inter Milan has gone one step further this season, returning to the Champions League after 12 years
Top 8.
It is worth mentioning that Inter Milan broke out from a death group, and they had 1 win and 1 draw against the mighty Barcelona. They advanced convincingly in a head-to-head confrontation.
In the two legs against Porto, Inter Milan showed the strong determination that a positive team should have, which is also a valuable trait that Inter Milan has held in the past few years.
In the past five years, Inter Milan has won four championship trophies (Serie A championship in the 20-21 season, Italian Super Cup in the 21-22 season, Italian Cup in the 2022 season and Italian Super Cup in the 22-23 season).
Strive for the goal of sustainable development and maintaining the highest level of competition.
Coach Inzaghi’s post-match interview also revealed the secret of Inter Milan’s progress-“We are united, shoulder difficulties together, and always play with confidence.”
Next, they will still fight with all their strength, so that the Nerazzurri spirit can continue in the next game.