2023-05-16 12:11:08
Published on :
Relentless in the first round of their European duel against AC Milan (0-2), Inter are on very favorable waivers before playing the Champions League semi-final return on Tuesday. Given the current form of their historic rival, the Rossoneri will have to make the perfect match to hope to continue their career in C1.
On the doorstep of the Champions League final, the Nerazzurri are in fine form at the best time of the season. And in confidence also before the return semi-final of the Milan derby version C1, played on Tuesday 16 May “at home”, thanks to their impressive run of seven straight wins in all competitions.
Since mid-April, Inter have recorded convincing successes against Italian heavyweights: AS Rome and Lazio in the league, Juventus in the Italian Cup and… AC Milan in the Champions League, the last week.
If the scudetto fell into the hands of Napoli, Inter are still in the race to win the Italian Cup – with a final against Fiorentina scheduled for 24 May – and above all the Champions League, a competition he has won three times (the last time in 2010).
But beware of overconfidence, interist coach Simone Inzaghi warned on Monday. “We haven’t done anything yet,” he said at a press conference. “We know that this is one of the most important matches in the history of Inter and what it means for the team, the club and the fans,” he added. “We know we have a deserved advantage, but we won’t just have to manage it”.
“It would be a big mistake to believe it, it’s going to be a derby against a Milan that wants to do something extraordinary,” also warned defender Francesco Acerbi.
“Exploits do exist”
For its part, AC Milan are in trouble with two victories in their last seven matches. And in a week, the Rossoneri season risks turning into a fiasco: they were curtly beaten by their rivals in the first round of their European duel (0-2) and were left behind in the race for the C1, this weekend, after a surprise defeat in the league at a poorly ranked, La Spezia (2- 0).
A sign of the current gloom, the tifosi of AC Milan made themselves heard after the rout against La Spezia to remobilize a team crowned champion of Italy last season, but very far from its level. IThere were hundreds of them on Sunday in front of Milanello, the club’s training center, with flags and banners.
“We know that we are starting with a handicap, but we have the quality to reverse the situation,” Milan coach Stefano Pioli told a press conference on Monday. “We have an important objective: to win this match and try to qualify for the Champions League final, when no one would have predicted that we could reach the semi-finals and even more in the final”.
The technician says he believes in the feat even if he will have to do without a key element, Ismaël Bennacer injured in the knee, or even the spearhead of his attack, the twirling Rafael Leao. Decisive against Naples in the quarter-finals but absent in the semi-final first leg against Inter, the Portuguese winger, back in training on Monday, remains uncertain for Tuesday evening.
“I know we can play a great game. We will have to make as few mistakes as possible and be ready to take advantage of theirs, because they will. Anyone who plays sports and even more so football knows that a game never It’s not over until it’s over! Achievements exist. You have to believe in them and you believe in them.”
Olivier Giroud, Mike Maignan and their teammates know what they have to do to become club legends and play in the final in Istanbul on 10 next june…nearly 18 years later the anthology final lost by AC Milan against Liverpool in this same city.
With AFP
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