Since the 0:0 home draw against Manchester United in the Round of 16 in 2009, Inter have not ended a Champions League knockout match in a draw. This streak was extended tonight (Wednesday) to 17 games, after Romelu Lukaku prevented a draw from zero and made it 0:1 against Porto in the 86th minute. The Belgian entered as a substitute and scored a total of his fourth goal of the season in all competitions, after the rival from Portugal remained with 10 players.
Inter, who as you remember eliminated Barcelona in the group stage, wants to return to the quarter-finals for the first time since 2010/11 and will try to keep the result in the return match in Dragao on March 14.
Inter coach Simone Inzaghi He concluded: “We played well against a very physical opponent, it’s a shame we didn’t manage to take advantage of the good situations in the first half. After the break we took risks and were exposed in bursts, but the substitutions helped. We wanted to achieve more than that, but given the circumstances it was a great performance. We had to move quickly more the ball and building the moves from the back Porto pressed aggressively but we still deserved to take the lead in the first half in my opinion.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan He complimented the scorer Lukaku: “It was not an easy time for him, when he came back from an injury and then got injured again, but he proved that he can work miracles. We hope he can stay fit, because he is a key player for us – whether he starts or comes off the bench.”
He said about the game: “The result is very important, beating a team like Porto is not easy. The game was not pretty, we know it is not over and we will do everything possible to win away from home as well. We know that we have to rise in the Champions League and it is a difficult task. We fought and got our reward In the end”.