Champions League: Inter must be at their best to finish Benfica job

Inter coach Simone Inzaghi feels that his team will need to “cover every blade of grass” in their Champions League quarterfinal second-leg match against Benfica tomorrow evening.

Speaking to InterTV ahead of Wednesday evening’s match, via FCInterNews, the coach emphasized the need for the Nerazzurri to have plenty of coverage on the pitch to keep up with a Benfica side who will throw everything they can at them to try and cause problems.

Inter may well head into match with a two-goal advantage, but over ninety minutes they will need to put everything they have into the match to keep Benfica at bay.

The Portuguese league leaders have been one of the outstanding sides in all of Europe this season, grabbing two wins over Juventus in the group stage in addition to drawing with Paris Saint-Germain home and away.

This is a testament to the quality as well as the intensity with which Roger Schmidt’s team plays, and Inzaghi believes that his players will have to match that if they’re to hold onto their advantage from the first leg and reach the semifinals.

“I don’t know what Benfica will do as far as their approach,” the Inter coach said, “I can say that it will be the second half of a very difficult and very important tie.”

“We’ll have to play it without thinking about holding onto our two-goal advantage from the first leg,” he added.

“The midfield battle will be important,” he continued, “possession will also be important – we’ll have to be good at managing the ball, and then cover every blade of grass on the pitch with organization and intensity, that’s something they’re exceptionally good at.”

Of the importance of individual moments, Inzaghi said that “They’ll be very important, they were in the first leg, and they also were against Porto.”