Inter Milan survived a late onslaught on their goal as they produced one of the goalless football scores of the weekend in the Champions League. The Portuguese champions attempted in vain to erase the small deficit from the first leg in Italy, disappointing the home fans at a sold-out Dragao stadium. A disciplined Inter team appeared satisfied to maintain their lead and did not face a major danger until added time. Porto hit the crossbar twice in 30 seconds before Pepe was sent off for a second yellow card, sending Inter into the quarter-finals with city rivals AC Milan.
Inter advanced to their first Champions League quarter-final since 2011 thanks to Romelu Lukaku’s goal four minutes from the end of the first leg. When Mehdi Taremi rattled the crossbar in the waning stages, he came within inches of forcing extra time. As winger Pepe was issued a second yellow card in the seventh minute of injury time, the Portuguese team was reduced to ten men. Lukaku, on loan from Chelsea, came in for Inter 20 minutes from time, replacing Edin Dzeko, who had come closest to scoring for Simone Inzaghi’s side with a low shot that Diogo Costa saved. On Wednesday, Napoli may make it three Serie A clubs in the last eight.
Inter Milan has qualified for the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals for the seventh time in their history, and for the first time since 2010-11, when they were eliminated in the last eight by Schalke. For the first time since April 2010, Inter has preserved three straight clean sheets in UEFA Champions League knockout games. Porto has now been eliminated from seven of their eight two-legged UEFA Champions League knockout ties after losing the first leg, progressing from this position just against Roma in 2018-19.
Porto has won only two of their past seven home UEFA Champions League knockout games, drawing one and losing four. Porto had 21 shots against Inter tonight, which is tied for the highest in a UEFA Champions League game this season with Atletico Madrid vs. Club Brugge on October 12 and Chelsea vs. Borussia Dortmund on February 15.
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