The defeat (1-2) in the classic in Luz against FC Porto confirmed Benfica’s trauma at home in games with the dragons (only four wins in the last 21 games before the championship), and Roger Schmidt’s team already has another negative trend to break through in the duel against Inter Milan in the quarter-finals of the Champions League: reversal of the negative history in the European qualifiers against Italian teams.
In addition to the three European finals lost against transalpine emblems – the 1962-63 and 1989-90 European Cup lost to AC Milan and in 1964-65 to Inter – Benfica also has a negative knockout history: the Italians won seven out of 11 times.
The club from Luz can hold on to the fact that it has been successful against Italians in European qualifiers in the past two times. In 2008-09, in the UEFA Cup, they overtook Napoli with a 2-0 home win and a 3-2 away defeat. And, more recently, in 2013/14, with Jorge Jesus as coach, they qualified for the Europa League final after knocking out Juventus (2-1 in Luz and 0-0 in Turin) – later lost to Sevilla in tiebreak by penalty kicks.
In the previous six qualifying matches, however, the Italians have always triumphed: AS Roma, Juventus, Parma, Fiorentina, Lazio and Inter Milan. A trend that the Reds now want to break, to stamp the passport for the semi-finals of the Champions League, where, curiously enough, they can again cross an Italian team, precisely who will win the match between AC Milan and Naples .
Do the math for all the clashes between the eagles and transalpine emblems in the history of European competitions, the balance is equally negative: in 33 matches, Benfica has 17 defeats, 11 wins and five draws, with a total of 35 goals and 44 suffered.
Clashes with Inter Milan were three – two defeats and a draw. In 1965 they lost 1-0 in the European Cup final and in 2003-04 in a UEFA Cup tie, with the Italians winning 4-3 at home and a goalless draw at Luz.
Inter at a bad time
Inter Milan, FC Porto’s executioner in this edition of the Champions League (Pinto da Costa even wished Benfica could avenge Porto’s defeat in Tuesday’s match), is not living its best days and coach Simone Inzaghi is fiercely contested – in Italy even say that an elimination against Benfica could cost him his place.
The Milan side has not won in six games – draws against Salernitana, Juventus and FC Porto and defeats against Fiorentina, Juventus and Spezia – and are currently fifth in Serie A, already well behind leaders Napoli (23 points difference) . .
“We have to analyze this game, improve and react from now on.”
As Pinto da Costa said, after celebrating another victory against his eternal rival, Luz becomes a “party hall” for FC Porto. Not only because of the fact that it has celebrated two titles there in recent times, but also because of its history of triumphs. In matches counting for the I Liga alone, there are already 10 wins in the last 21 trips to the eagles field, plus seven draws and just four wins for the reds.
Now the focus of Roger Schmidt’s team is to break the trend in qualifiers against the Italians, getting a good result in Luz this Tuesday, in the first leg of the quarter-finals. Because passing the quarter-finals and reaching the semi-finals, in addition to sporting prestige, also allows SAD do Benfica to cash in more than 12.5 million euros in UEFA prizes, an amount that can be added to the cake that has already been collected here – 72,558 million euros.
Source: DN
