Two historic Italians on their way to Benfica and Sporting respectively in the quarter-finals of the Champions League and the Europa League, but who are not living the best moment despite much higher budgets, leaving the two Portuguese clubs dreaming of a passage to the semi-finals of both competitions .
In the Champions League, Benfica will compete with Inter Milan, the executioner of FC Porto in the competition. Clube da Luz will play the first leg at home against Simone Inzaghi’s team (on April 11), currently second in the Italian league (only 18 points behind leaders Napoli) whose main danger lies in attack, with the likes of Lautaro Martínez, Dzeko and Lukaku .
A draw that somehow turned out to be lucky for Roger Schmidt’s team, as they avoided sharks like Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Chelsea already in this draw and on their way to the final, because in the pairing of matches in the semi-finals, they go against Inter, then the eagles will meet the winner of the match between AC Milan and Napoli.
“We are going to play against a great team. Inter has a lot of individual quality and experience. We have to be at the highest level. We believe in our football and we have chances to be in the semi-finals,” evaluated Roger Schmidt on Friday. the launch of today’s match in Luz against V. Guimarães (18.00, BTV), from the 25th round of the I Liga.
The Inter coach also expects a complicated draw. “It will be two great games, with a great atmosphere and tension at the competition level. Benfica is a strong team with a lot of tradition, which won its group very well. But we still want to please our supporters,” analyzed Inzaghi, who lost 10 in 37 games played this season in all competitions, and who leads an Inter far from the dominant team of Jose Mourinho’s time, which won a Champions League and two Italian championships between 2008 and 2010.
Juve embroiled in controversy
After the memorable night in London, with Arsenal’s elimination on penalties, Sporting will face Juventus in the quarter-finals of the Europa League (first leg in Turin, on April 13), a team that includes Di María Vlahovic, Rabiot, Danielo and Milik.
The Italians, coached by Massimiliano Allegri, are going through a very difficult moment, as at the beginning of the year they saw the Italian Federation deprive them of 15 points for tax fraud related to transfer irregularities. And there can be 20 more!
This explains the current modest seventh place in the Italian championship, otherwise without this penalty they would be in second place… replacing Inter Milan. Juventus entered the Europa League after falling in the group stage of the Champions League, where they suffered two defeats against Benfica (1-2 in Turin and 4-3 in Luz).
However, in the midst of this controversy, the Turin team sees the Europa League (in case of victory) as the only possibility to reach the champions next season, as with the points already withdrawn they will hardly reach the Champions League entry places.
“Another draw in which we had a very experienced team in European competitions, much more than we have in recent years. They have an excellent team, but that does not prevent us from having our opportunities,” said sports director Hugo Viana in statements to Sports TV.
Juventus sporting director Gianluca Pessotto praised the Lions and recalled the performance against Arsenal. “The quarter-finals will be tough. Sporting are strong and they proved it against Arsenal, one of the favorite teams. They also didn’t do well in the Champions group stage and will want to continue like us. Juventus and I don’t think any team is happy to play against us,” he said.
After a decade of dominating Italian football (nine consecutive championship titles between 2011 and 2020), Juve has seen the two Milan clubs retreat from prominence in recent years.
If the Lions reach the semi-finals of the competition, they will face the winner of the match between Manchester United and Sevilla.
Benfica and Sporting previously faced the same opponents. The Eagles lost the 1965 European Cup final to the Nerazzurri 1-0. And more recently, in 2004, they crossed paths in the UEFA Cup – in Luz there was a goalless draw, and in Milan Inter won 4-3. The Lions, on the other hand, measured their strength with Juve in the Champions group stage in 2017-18 – the Italians won 2-1 in Turin and drew goalless in Alvalade.
Source: DN
