Inter midfielder Hakan Calhanoglu is happy to see his teammate Romelu Lukaku back amongst the goals in the team’s 1-0 Champions League win over Porto.
Speaking to InterTV after the match, via FCInterNews, the 29-year-old noted the importance of moments like the Belgian’s second half winner to getting him back to where he needs to be mentally speaking.
Calhanoglu was named as the player of the match for Inter’s round of sixteen first leg win over Porto by UEFA, whilst his teammate Lukaku was the man who proved to be decisive on the scoresheet and in terms of his second half impact.
The Turk is pleased for his teammate, who has not had an easy season by any means as persistent injury and fitness problems have kept him from making the expected impact.
“I’m happy for Lukaku, he needed it for his confidence, and it’s an important goal considering that it will be more difficult to play away than it was at home,” Calhanoglu said after the match.
“We knew that Porto were a strong team, and there are certainly better pitches for playing football,” the midfielder continued. “Today we created a number of chances but we weren’t able to score from them until late.”
Of the return of Marcelo Brozovic, Calhanoglu said that “I’m happy because we need all the players available that we can have, we’re happy to have everyone back.”
“Now we have the entire midfield available and we know that everyone has quality and deserves to play.”
Of his UEFA player of the match award, the 29-year-old said that “I’m giving this prize away to raise funds for the survivors of the earthquake in Turkey.”
“As soon as I left the pitch, I immediately started thinking about them again.”
“It’s been a very difficult two weeks for me because of what happened, but I’m happy that we were able to win tonight,” he added.
