Inter coach Simone Inzaghi has once again gotten a “complete performance” out of his team on the biggest stage in their 2-0 win over Benfica yesterday.

The 47-year-old is praised significantly in today’s print edition of Milan-based newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport, via FCInterNews, for getting the balance right in the Nerazzurri’s Champions League quarterfinal first leg triumph at the Estadio da Luz.

Inter will have known what was in store for them in Lisbon, up against an opponent who are not only in imperious form in their domestic form but had also played twelve matches in the Champions League including qualifiers.

Roger Schmidt’s team had eliminated Juventus along the way, topping a group including the Bianconeri as well as Paris Saint-Germain.

Then, the Lisbon giants thrashed Club Brugge 7-1 on aggregate in the last round to reach the last eight of Europe’s top club competition.

However, the Nerazzurri had impressed with their own exploits in the Champions League so far this campaign.

A win and a draw against Barcelona in the group stage were enough to secure Inter a place in the knockout rounds out of a “group of death” which also contained Bayern Munich.

Then, in the last round it took a solitary goal from Romelu Lukaku and plenty of gritty, backs-to-the-wall defending to see the Nerazzurri emerge victorious from a treacherous two-legged tie against Porto.

Accordingly, there was something of an “unstoppable force meeting an immovable object” dynamic at play at kickoff at the da Luz.

In the end, it was yet another Champions League clean sheet for Inter goalkeeper Andre Onana, who has yet to have to pick the ball up out of his own net during the knockout rounds, as the Nerazzurri were the first team to stop Benfica in Europe this season.

As the Gazzetta notes, it was hardly a “catenaccio” display from Inter, who had plenty of possession and knew how to apply the pressure and create chances themselves, as evidenced by the fact that they were more than good value for the two goals that they scored.

However, it was always inevitable that against a team like this Benfica, the Nerazzurri were always going to have to suffer and absorb some pressure.

On the night, then, it was going to take another organized and physical display to keep the Portuguese team at bay.

That is exactly what Nerazzurri coach Inzaghi masterminded, and in the view of the Gazzetta both he and his players deserve immense credit for getting every detail right to plant one foot in the semifinals of Europe’s top club competition.