Legendary former Inter winger Jair Da Costa has faith that the Nerazzurri’s current crop of attackers will come good when it matters most.
Speaking to Milan-based newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport in an interview published in today’s print edition, via FCInterNews, the 82-year-old Brazilian legend gave his thoughts ahead of the Nerazzurri’s massive quarterfinal first leg match against Benfica in the Champions League.
Inter face a massively important match in the context of their season this evening against Benfica.
It is a chance for the Nerazzurri to reach the semifinal stage of Europe’s top competition, but to do so they will have to go through not just one of the most in-form teams in European football at the moment, but a great rival in historical terms.
Lisbon giants Benfica were the Nerazzurri’s adversaries in the 1965 Champions League final, a match in which legendary former winger Jair scored the match’s only goal to hand his team the win over a legendary Benfica side which contained the likes of Benfica and others.
Inter’s current strikers will be hoping that they can revive the memory of the Brazilian’s goal by finding the back of the net this evening, particularly given the team’s goalscoring woes which have now stretched back over several matches.
For his part, Jair is not lacking any confidence in the Nerazzurri forwards.
The 82-year-old believes that the Inter strikers will be able to break their duck when it really matters, starting with this evening’s match at the da Luz.
Looking back at the Benfica team that he and the “Grande Inter” side of the 1960s beat, Jair noted “That Benfica were a very strong side, they didn’t just have Eusebio – there was top players like Simoes and Costa Pereira who was a top keeper despite his error that evening.”
“Even if it’s harder for me to be there for reasons of health and distance, I’m always supporting Inter,” he continued.
Of the fixture against Benfica, the Brazilian remarked that “This is ‘my’ match, and I wouldn’t want to lose it for all the world.”
And when asked if the current Inter strikers have “forgotten how to score,” Jair was confident, replying “They haven’t forgotten, don’t worry – they’re just saving the goals for when it counts most.”
