Simone Inzaghi, the head coach of Inter Milan, acknowledged that he had previously only daydreamed about his team making it to the Champions League last four.
The Nerazzurri advanced as runners-up before the LaLiga heavyweights despite being placed in what was known as a “group of death” early in the competition when they were paired with Bayern Munich and Barcelona.
Inter will play city rival AC Milan in the semi-finals for the first time since the 2002-03 season, and it will be the first time the two teams will clash five times in a single season after they defeated Benfica 5-3 on aggregate following a 3-3 draw at San Siro on Wednesday.
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“There is great happiness,” Inzaghi said after the game. “We played a great game against a difficult team.
“We fully deserved this semi-final, which before was only a dream. I’m happy for the boys and for our progress.
“We started with a very difficult group with Barcelona and Bayern Munich. We work every day to experience these evenings.”
For the first time since they won the Champions League in 2009–10, they will advance to the semifinals, which should lessen some of the burden on Inzaghi, who has faced criticism for the team’s league performance.
In their previous five Serie A games, they have lost four and won just one.
“Critics aren’t a problem,” he insisted. “I know where they come from. Some speak well, some speak bad.”
With six open-play crosses, twice as many as any other player, including assists for Lautaro Martinez and Joaquin Correa after Nicolo Barella had previously given the hosts the lead, Federico Dimarco had a busy game down the Inter left against Benfica.
Through Frederik Aursnes, Roger Schmidt’s team brought the score back to parity before late goals from Antonio Silva and Petar Musa restored parity.
“We’re very happy, it’s been many years since Inter made it to the semi-finals,” Dimarco told Amazon Prime. “There’s still one step left to get to the end.
“We played well, apart from some lack of attention for their goals. The assists? I worked all week for this, the important thing is that the team wins.
When asked about the prospect of facing Milan, he replied: “Let’s think about the other matches first. I’m calm, there’s still one step left for us to move forward.”