Porto 0-0 Inter Milan: Internazionale joined the best eight clubs in Europe on Wednesday. Simone Inzaghi’s team played a 0-0 draw at FC Porto, which was enough after the narrow 1-0 win in the home game.
World class save from Onana helps Inter to the quarterfinals
The first threat came from the home team, where veteran Pepe had to drop out in the center of the back at the end. Mateus Uribe’s long shot just missed Andre Onana’s goal. The Cameroonian had to act on a shot from Stephen Eustaquio: it was not hard but very well placed and therefore required a good save.
Furthermore, the first half in the north of Portugal had little to do. Sérgio Conceicao’s team knew it had to catch up, but was in little hurry. Only on the stroke of half time Eustaquio was close to danger, but he just couldn’t reach a free kick from Pepê.
Second half
After the break, Matteo Darmian in particular had to pay close attention, the winger was able to thwart a dangerous Porto attack with a perfect tackle. The home team moved more and more forward, but Inter did not really falter. Lautaro Martínez even had a chance at 0-1 on the other side, but was just too late with the ball.
It didn’t change the result. Internazionale, where Stefan de Vrij, among others, came in, won the result for which it had come, although it still ran into problems in injury time. Porto, with the courage of desperation, first saw a shot deflected off the line and then hit the post after Onana got a finger against the ball, and the crossbar in the after strike. Inter survived the perilous moments one by one unscathed. Midfielder Pepê received a red card in the final phase before the referee blew the whistle.
As a result, the blue-blacks are again represented in the last eight of Europe for the first time since 2011. A derby against AC Milan is one of the possibilities in the draw on Friday.
The elimination of FC Porto is good news for the Dutch top clubs. Our country competes with Portugal for sixth place in the UEFA coefficient ranking. Which entitles it to two direct starting tickets for the Champions League. With Porto, a Portuguese trump card falls. If Sporting Portugal is also eliminated on Thursday, sixth place will no longer be taken away from the Netherlands.
