Benfica and Inter meet in the UEFA Champions League quarter-final first leg on Tuesday.
Benfica are in the quarter-finals for the second season running and the sixth time in the UEFA Champions League era – they have yet to clear this hurdle since reaching the 1990 final, however. Inter’s previous run beyond the last eight ended in glory, in 2010, and they have reached this stage for the first time in 12 years.
Only Napoli have scored more than Benfica’s 23 goals, and no quarter-finalist has registered fewer than the Nerazzurri’s 11.
What the coaches say
Roger Schmidt, Benfica coach: “In the knockout stage you have to expect the opponent at their top level. For both teams it’s very important, both expended a lot of energy to reach this round. We expect a top side, a very concentrated one, but this is also what we expect for ourselves. We have to be ready for a side with individual quality, and we need a top performance.”
Simone Inzaghi, Inter coach: “We know the importance of the match. We have had a great journey, which has been very difficult. We have to play a great match. Benfica have not lost in the Champions League, they scored lots of goals, they are a quality team. But we are Inter, we have prepared well. Benfica have lost two games all season but they will find an Inter who know what they want and know the match we have to play.”
Possible line-ups
Benfica: Vlachodimos; Gilberto, António Silva, Morato, Grimaldo; Florentino, Chiquinho; João Mário, Aursnes, Neres; Gonçalo Ramos
Inter: Onana; Darmian, Acerbi, Bastoni; Dumfries, Barella, Brozović, Mkhitaryan, Dimarco; Martínez, Lukaku
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