After a very exciting final phase, Inter was lucky enough to hold their own against Porto. The dominant Portuguese did not see their match rewarded with a goal, Inter pushed through to the quarter-finals of the Champions League thanks to a good Onana and Romelu Lukaku’s goal in the first leg.
No Romelu Lukaku in the starting line-up at Inter, despite his winner in the first leg, Big Rom had to settle for a spot on the bench in the return. Romelu is not in good shape, we are still waiting to see the real Lukaku at work, as in the past. The Italians had to defend their tight 1-0 win from the first leg in Porto and coach Simone Inzaghi counted on veteran Edin Dzeko in the point. Pepe was the big absentee at Porto, the Portuguese barrel full of experience was injured shortly before the game. A serious loss for coach Sérgio Conceição.
The Portuguese did not let the loss of their captain get to their hearts and took control of the game from the start. The possession was for the home team and that also resulted in the first chances for Uribe and Estaquio, Onana came in twice well. On the other side, his colleague Diogo Costa also intervened well on Inter’s few attempts. Only once did Porto put together a nice combination, Dimarco was attentive and tackled the danger. 0-0 was a logical halfway score after a pale first half.
Romelu Lukaku watched a boring first half from the bench.
Foto: Getty Images
Porto still had 45 minutes to pull out extra time and you saw that at the beginning of the second half. The Portuguese came out of the dressing room sharply and used the long ball more. Uribe immediately had a chance on a falling ball, his volley whiz over the crossbar. Inter tried to stop the Portuguese pressure with the rough means. A few clever mistakes took the pace out of the game of the Portuguese, the game rippled on in favor of the Milanese.
Substitute Lukaku
Romelu Lukaku was allowed to make his appearance twenty minutes before the end. The Red Devil was allowed to come and relieve Dzeko and help secure the qualification for the quarter finals. Big Rom immediately tried to show himself, but lacked precision in his passing. On the other side, the home team kept an eye out for the attack attempts. After a pinball moment, Grujic didn’t hesitate, but Onana was again well in the corner to keep the attempt from its goal. The Cameroonian goalie played a good game and kept his team straight when it was needed.
Porto certainly did not play a bad match, but the quality in the last meters was too low to make Inter crack.
Photo: AFP
Portuguese final offensive: Dumfries and the bar save Inter
No less than seven minutes were added to this match and that gave Porto a lot of hope. Toni Martinez scored with a bicycle kick, but it ended a meter wide of Onana’s goal. After that, Inter got away very well. First, Dumfries turned a ball off the line. Taremi then headed against the post through Onana’s hands, in which Martinez worked the ball on the crossbar in the rebound. It just didn’t want to work for Porto, which saw Pepe get his second yellow card in the very last minute.
Inter eventually held out against a dominant Porto, a dry 0-0 was the verdict in the Estádio do Dragão. The Portuguese certainly did not play bad football, but the too low quality and bad luck in the last zones of the field did not make Inter crack. The Milanese can thank goalkeeper Onana and Romelu Lukaku – for his winning goal in Milan – for the ticket to the quarterfinals. For Porto, their Champions League adventure is over, just like that of group mate Club Brugge, in the eighth finals.
In a crazy final phase, Martinez almost scored with a bicycle kick.
Photo: AFP
