Inter defender Alessandro Bastoni is hoping that he and his teammates are able to do what other Italian clubs have not been able to in recent seasons by knocking Porto out of the Champions League.

Speaking to UEFA, via FCInterNews, the 23-year-old made clear that the Nerazzurri aim to bring Porto’s streak of getting the better of teams from Serie A to a halt in their round of sixteen tie against the Portuguese champions.

The difficulty of Inter’s two-legged clash with Porto to reach the Champions League quarterfinals is underlined by the fact that the last three Italian teams to have tried have all failed.

The Portuguese team got the better of Roma and Juventus at this stage of the Champions League in the 2018-19 and 2020-21 seasons respectively.

Then, last season, Inter’s city rivals AC Milan came up against Porto in the Champions League group stage, with a loss and a draw condemning the Rossoneri to finish bottom of their group.

“It’s a round of sixteen match,” Bastoni looked ahead, “it certainly won’t be easy.”

“I’ve read about the statistics from their matches against Italian teams, obviously we’ll be trying to spoil them,” he continued.

The defender noted that “It will be a match where ultimately the details are what matter.”

“It’s a two-legged tie,” he added, “so we have to stay focused and we don’t have to lose our heads if there are setbacks, we have to stick together.”