Inter coach Simone Inzaghi feels that while it’s true that this Benfica side will be very formidable opposition, the Nerazzurri are also a strong side who can be confident going into tomorrow evening’s Champions League clash.
Speaking in a press conference ahead of tomorrow evening’s quarterfinal first leg match at the Estadio da Luz, as reported by FCInterNews, the coach also updated that midfielder Hakan Calhanoglu could be fit to face Monza this weekend.
Inter certainly won’t be underestimating Benfica ahead of tomorrow evening’s match, considering that the Portuguese high-flyers have already eliminated Juventus from the Champions League on their way to this point.
However, as Nerazzurri defender Alessandro Bastoni has pointed out, the Nerazzurri have already faced the likes of Barcelona, Bayern Munich, and Porto in this competition without any fear, and they can look at tomorrow’s match in the same way.
“We know how important this match is,” Inzaghi said of tomorrow’s match.
“It will be a tough match up against a team who are unbeaten in the Champions League so far, having scored 28 goals so far including seven in the round of sixteen alone, where they took forty shots,” ht continued.
“But we’re Inter,” the coach was defiant.
“The team managed to play three good matches in the league, the results haven’t followed but we’ve managed a lot of shots in them,” he continued.
“There are moments when you seem to score with every touch, but then right now we can’t seem to score,” the coach lamented.
Inzaghi then defended his team by noting that “That hasn’t happened to us in a year and a half.”
“We have to work harder, and then believe that what we want is possible, because it won’t be easy,” the coach added.
“Together, and that’s the key word over the next two months, we can get what we’re looking for.”
“The goal was for us to still be alive in all the competitions we’re in when April comes around, in the league we have some catching up to do, but we have time,” he said.
Of the coincidence of meeting two Portuguese teams in a row in the Champions League knockouts, Inzaghi said that “Benfica and Porto are two excellent teams.”
“Benfica know how to find the right moments to pick you off, they’re not obsessing with pressing though,” the Inter coach said.
“We need to have both our heads and hearts,” he added.
“I have no doubt about the heart,” the coach said of his team, “but then the head is something especially important when we look at the last couple matches, which we shouldn’t have on our minds.”
“Benfica are a team that are full of running, they’ve only lost two games this season, one of which on Saturday in the league.”
“We’ll have to go there and play our game,” Inzaghi went on.
The Nerazzurri coach then hit out at his critics, noting that “Last year we went to Salerno and won 5-0 with three shots in the first half, this time we took twenty shots and score just once.”
“The criticisms are something that always happen,” the coach added.
Asked if he thinks that the sale of midfielder Enzo Fernandez to Chelsea has weakened Benfica, Inzaghi argued that “He was important for them, but they haven’t lost any quality.”
Regarding the fitness of Hakan Calhanoglu and Milan Skriniar, both of whom are set to miss tomorrow’s match, Inzaghi said that “They’re very important players for us, although [Benfica] will have some players out too, I’d have liked to have played the match with two complete teams.”
“I hope to have Calhanoglu back fit against Monza, and then with Skriniar it could take a little longer,” he added.
Asked if the Nerazzurri could hold a deeper defensive line tomorrow, Inzaghi said that “There will be periods where we play with a higher line and then periods where we defend deeper, the same is true of Benfica.”
And regarding the rumours that Sergio Conceicao could replace him at Inter, Inzaghi dismissed them by saying that “There’s always rumours.”
“Conceicao and Schmidt are two great coaches, it was a pleasure to come up against Conceicao and it will be a pleasure to come up against Schmidt,” he concluded.
