The 90 minutes at the Wanda Metropolitano may not be as long as at the Bernabeu (from a historic quote from former Blanco player Juanito), but Inter will certainly not be expected to have a picnic tomorrow in the second leg of the Champions League round of 16 match against Atletico Madrid.
Simone Inzaghi's men will in fact have to defend the 1-0 from the first leg at San Siro, in a warm stadium (where the Colchoneros have won 13 out of 14 matches this year) and against an opponent who has already promised battle, to achieving the second consecutive qualification for the quarter-finals, as has not happened for the Nerazzurri since the 2009-'10 seasons (in which they achieved the Treble) and 2010-'11, when instead they were eliminated at the hands of Schalke 04. And Inter goes in Madrid also to dispel a taboo: without considering the triumph in the Champions League final at the Bernabeu but against Bayern Munich, the last victory in Spain in fact came in October 2004 (5-1 against Valencia) and that success is followed by six defeats and three draws against Iberian teams, the last two of which were consecutive, against Barcelona in 2022/23 and against Real Sociedad in the current season.
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The victory in the first leg will give the Nerazzurri two results out of three to go through, but Simone Inzaghi's intentions are not to just defend.
"We all know what Atletico is, what a great coach Simeone is who is a friend and has been a great teammate. We have prepared in the best possible way, knowing that the Metropolitano is a point of reference for Atletico, knowing that we have a minimal advantage and that we won't speculate", explained the Nerazzurri coach in the classic press conference on the eve of the match.
"Tomorrow we know it will be complicated, against an opponent of absolute value who is transformed at home.
We know we have a minimal advantage that we bring from Milan, but we will try to play our match."
Which is why the championship race is being put aside for now to focus solely on Atletico Madrid.
"We know Inter's history, the year of the Treble was great. We are following our path, leaving the championship aside and thinking match after match, in these two and a half days we have tried to prepare it in the best possible way" , continued Inzaghi.
"Our journey was not born in Istanbul but began three years ago, it is a three-year journey in which the team has always managed to get through, which is not a given in the last ten years here at Inter. Last year we achieved the wonderful final in Istanbul which we played with great pride and this year we want to make our way."
As for the lineup, Inzaghi only has to deal with the absences of the injured Carlos Augusto and Arnautovic (author of the decisive goal in the first leg), who after the match in Bologna were added to the long-term patients Cuadrado and Sensi.
The only doubts about the starting eleven should concern the vote between Acerbi and De Vrij in defense and that between Dumfries and Darmian on the right wing.
For the rest, therefore, in front of Sommer the defense will be completed by Pavard and Bastoni, while in midfield there will be the trio formed by Barella, Calhanoglu and Mkhitaryan with Dimarco on the left.
In attack, however, Lautaro will return to team up with Thuram for the first time after the first leg, in which the Frenchman stopped after 45' due to injury.
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