Inter coach Simone Inzaghi feels that the Nerazzurri did very well to make Benfica look “average” in their quarterfinal tie against the Portuguese league leaders.

Speaking in a press conference after their 3-3 second leg draw against the Aguias, as reported by FCInterNews, the coach expressed pride in the performance that his team had put in to book their place in the final four of Europe’s top club competition.

Inter may have felt that they had done well to avoid teams like Manchester City and Real Madrid in the quarterfinal draw for the Champions League, but at the same time there will have been no underestimating the quality that Benfica possess.

The Lisbon giants have been imperious at the top of their domestic league table, whilst in the Champions League they had been one of the in-form teams, not losing a single match prior to the first leg against Inter last week.

Benfica had beaten Juventus twice and also grabbed two draws against Paris Saint-Germain, so Inzaghi and his team will hardly have felt that they would be in for anything other than a tough tie.

Of getting past Portuguese duo Porto and Benfica, Inzaghi said that “Both of them are excellent teams, organized and they have excellent coaches.”

“We played better today than we did in the round of sixteen, at any rate they’re two teams of the highest quality.”

“Benfica had lost two matches in nine months,” the coach stressed, “we did very well to win in Lisbon and then draw here.”

Asked whether he thought Benfica coach Roger Schmidt could’ve made more changes, Inzaghi replied “I don’t know, it’s difficult to criticize Schimdt, he’s taken them on an incredible journey.”

“I congratulated him, but we reached the semifinals by making Benfica look average,” he added.

Of what reaching the semifinals represents, Inzaghi said that “I’m very happy, and I’m happy for the guys as well.”

“It’s a historic and important milestone that at one point looked a long way away, after a difficult group stage, and then we played the round of sixteen and quarterfinal matches in the best way possible,” he added.

“As for the goals conceded, the player thought they’d heard the whistle before the equalizer, that’s what Calhanoglu told me.”

“We would have preferred to win, I’m sorry for the guys for that, we could also hear a whistle on the bench,” he added.

At the suggestion that Inter will have to now transfer the momentum and enthusiasm from the Champions League back to Serie A where they’re struggling, Inzaghi said that “That’s exactly what we’ll have to do, we know where we’ve come from and it’s been a crazy fixture list.”

“We’re always playing, we’ve dropped some massive points in the league, but we know we have to do better.”

“If we didn’t have the cup matches we’d certainly be in a different position in the table, but we can’t predict that and we have to always play in a way that’s worthy of Inter,” he added.

“In a few days we will play a great match against Empoli,” the coach said.

Of how he expects the two-legged semifinal tie against AC Milan to differ from previous matches played against the Rossoneri, Inzaghi said that “We’ve seen over the past two seasons that we’ve played a number of matches against Milan and they’ve always been of the highest quality.”

“We also have another semifinal match in the Coppa Italia, but now I have everyone fit and available apart from Skriniar,” he added.

“This evening de Vrij, whose contract is expiring, gritted his teeth and did everything to make himself available, because he knew that we’ll need everyone,” Inzaghi stressed.