Berlin (dpa-stats perform)
Simone Inzaghi, coach of the Italian football team Inter Milan, could not hide his anger after his team settled for winning 1-0 at home to Porto, Portugal, in the first leg of the Champions League round of 16.
The Belgian Romelu Lukaku scored the only goal of the match for Inter Milan in the 86th minute.
Porto has played with ten players since the 77th minute, after Ottavio was sent off, who received a second warning due to his strong intervention against Turkish Hakan Calhanoglu, the Inter Milan player.
After the match, Inzaghi told Prime Video: “We played a great match against a distinguished team in physical and technical aspects, a wonderful team … We regret the missed opportunities in the first half.”
He added, “The changes helped us in the second half. We wanted something bigger, but we feel satisfied because we played a great match.”
He continued, “Marcelo Brozovic and Lukaku performed very well, as well as Denzel Dumfries and Robin Goossens. I need everyone because it is not easy to play such matches.”
He pointed out: «In the first half we had to pass the ball faster, we had to build better and faster, Porto attacked us fiercely, we had to keep up with them and we deserved to advance in the first half».
Bosnian striker Edin Dzeko expressed his anger after being substituted in the 58th minute, with Lukaku, the goal-scorer, participating in his place.
Inzaghi commented on this by saying: “I was expecting this question. I, too, was feeling very angry when I left the field in these matches, but it is enough for me that I saw him jumping for joy after Lukaku’s goal.”
He explained, “These things happen on the field with adrenaline on those nights. We must not forget that in these 18 months with Inter Milan, Dzeko did a lot.”
