Inter hold Porto and return to the Champions League quarter-finals after 12 years.

After a game with caution in the first half and despair in the final moments, Milan won by one goal. defense game This canceled Porto’s attack. In this way, the ‘Nerazzurri’ advanced to the quarter-finals of Europe’s biggest tournament for the first time since the 2010/2011 season, when they retained the title they had won in the previous edition.

The turn for Porto started to get complicated even before kick-off. Central Veteran Pepe demoralized at the last minuteexpanded the list of unavailable starts, along with injured João Mário and suspended Otávio. The minimum advantage gained at San Siro is Simone Inzaghi’s prudent strategywaiting for the opponent to make a mistake.

Sérgio Conceição, a former Inter player and Inzaghi’s teammate in Lazio, once again chose pressure, although not as successful in the first half as in the first game. And the ‘nerazzurri’ prevented the blue-and-white defense from connecting with the pieces in the middle of the pitch, resulting in several shouts from the Portuguese coach demanding more speed on the passes.

forl Porto struggled to find space, Inter did not threaten the counter-goal much. The Milan team still created a few moments of danger, especially through Dumfries, the most active of the eleven teams in the first half, but aside from Dzeko’s shot, Diogo Costa didn’t have to intervene as often as he used to.

The ‘Dragons’ finally found their game as the break approached and missed the goal only thanks to a cut from Dimarco. But when they found the accelerator, the Porto players went over the speed limit and allowed Inter to take advantage of their lack of control. Uribe’s loss of the ball near his goal due to distraction caused Lautaro Martínez to threaten him, but without success. After 45 minutes of intensity, Conceição now wanted calm.

Time is already against you, Porto returned to score in the second half., and Uribe sent a ball up the crossbar to make up for his mistake. After a 70-minute strike, both coaches decided to retouch their teams in favor of offense, with players like Inter’s Belgium’s Romelu Lukako or Porto’s Spaniard Toni Martínez entering.

Changes brought ‘dragons’ into the spotlight, but the duel only escalated in the last bars. Between a rock and a hard place, Porto of course tried and was on the verge of achieving it. In additional time, Dumfries saved Marcano’s shot from the line; a few seconds later, Mehdi Taremi hit the post and in the next game Grucic hit the crossbar with a ball. In desperation, Pepê received his second yellow card and was sent off, ending Porto’s Champions League hopes and sealing Inter’s pass.