Inter - Milan (16 May 23) [ UCL Semifinal G2 ] [1-0]

[Besnik]

Or imagine it's June 2022 and someone would tell you there will be Inter in a fcking CL semifinal, and very likely to reach final as well.

 

[wera]

Or imagine it's June 2022 and someone would tell you there will be Inter in a fcking CL semifinal, and very likely to reach final as well.

only Sawyer and Calhanoglu believed

 

[ADRossi]

Acerbi is a very good defender. People went really overboard with making fun of signing him, mostly because of his age and because the camera caught him smiling after Milan scored the winner against Lazio last season.

My main grievance is giving any sort of long term commitment to an aging player. If we buy him this summer it will be a mistake. Much like Dzeko, you need to know when there's no juice left in the lemon.

 

[DARi0]

imagine it's june 2022 and someone would tell you there will be acerbi in a fcking CL semifinal pressconfrence..

View attachment 8264

Acerbi: ‘Inter didn’t celebrate after the first leg, we haven’t done anything yet’

The 35-year-old was chosen to accompany coach Simone Inzaghi at the pre-match press conference on Monday afternoon ahead of the second leg at San Siro, where the two sides will compete for a place in the Champions League final.

He told reporters: “We will have to do even more, Milan will want to overturn the result and we are aware of that. We know they will have pride, determination and desire, but we will have to be prepared.

“It’s a beautiful game to play in and at the same time it gives you that mixture of fear and adrenaline. We know it’s going to be an even more difficult game than the first leg, but we want to do something truly extraordinary, unthinkable.”

When asked how he was feeling heading into the second leg, Acerbi replied: “Anxious. But it can also be positive. You have thousands of things on your mind, whether it will go well or not, but you have to be positive, you have to have faith in yourself and in the group.

“We know we’re facing a strong team, but we know we are strong too. If we go about it thinking we’re already 1% away from going through, there will be mistakes, but I don’t think this team is like that. We’ll do everything and it will be even more difficult than in the first leg.”

One journalist asked how the team would deal with the risk of feeling “too comfortable” with a two-goal lead, however, before he could finish his question, Acerbi interrupted and insisted that the job is far from over.

“But we’re not sure about the 2-0,” he said. “We didn’t celebrate after the first leg, there’s still the second leg to go. We haven’t done anything yet, we have to focus on ourselves.

“Tomorrow depends on us, we know Milan but fate is in our hands and for now, if you were to ask me if it’s been a good season, I would say no. We’ll make our conclusions at the end of it.”

Acerbi does not seem to agree with Marotta

 

[Besnik]

Acerbi takes no prisoners. That's some mentality.

 

[vex]

I have a feeling milan will try to be patient at the beginning cos they know if they concede first it's all over for them. I usually don't have problems with conservative approach and defending the result, but the right approach in this one imo is to attack them just like in the first game and try to finish everything in the first couple of minutes.

 

[DARi0]

Stick with the exact same line up as first leg. If it ain't broke, don't fix it

Agreed and the media reports the same.

Clement Turpin will be the man with the whistle on Tuesday evening, assisted by Nicolas Danos, Benjamin Pages and Stephanie Frappart, with a VAR team consisting of Jerome Brisard and Benoit Millot.

Asked whether he had any issues with the designation of officials, Inzaghi replied: “I have many friends and acquaintances in football who contacted me when they saw the designation of a French referee with the 4 French players in the Milan side, but there’s no problem. I have the utmost confidence.”

There were, however, some complaints about the standard of refereeing in the tournament so far, particularly in the first leg against Milan last Wednesday.
“I hardly talk about the referees even if sometimes I can’t help myself,” Inzaghi added. “In the first leg there was an incident that needed to be dealt with differently.
“I’m talking about Krunic’s foul on Bastoni, which would have given a different and very important result. This was not the case.”

Inzaghi: Second leg against Milan ‘will be one of the most important matches in Inter’s history’

He told the press: “As a coach I treat every game in the same way. Tomorrow we know it’s one of the most important matches in Inter‘s history. Tomorrow we know we have a well-deserved advantage, but we won’t just have to manage it, we’ll have to play the Inter way, knowing that we have a strong team up front.”

Inzaghi was also asked if he ever envisaged being on the cusp of the Champions League final when the Nerazzurri were drawn in a group with Bayern Munich and Barcelona in August.
He replied: “There was a bit of disappointment when the draw came through in August, we hadn’t been very lucky, but at the same time what I said to my staff and the players at the time is that even Barça and Bayern weren’t happy. Tomorrow will be an important step. Tomorrow I have no doubts, the supporters have always been with us in the bad times and the good.”

One reporter suggested that Inzaghi should be given more respect for guiding Inter to the semi-final of the competition, as well as reaching the final of the Coppa Italia.
“Thank you,” he replied, before continuing: “Fortunately my team and I read and listen very little, but I know everything that is being written. My great fortune and also that of my staff is that we listen and read little. Sometimes we, as coaches, have to make choices, we do every day. Sometimes you are lucky and sometimes you are not. It is our job and that’s what it requires.

“We know we are 90 minutes away from realising our dream. Thanks to them we are in the Italian Cup final. We worked very well during the break, even if we had some players out for the World Cup: we worked very hard at that stage. We were also written off in the league five games ago, but now our thoughts are only on tomorrow.

“We know who we’re going to face, but we also know that we’re in an excellent run of form. We’re ready for a match of this magnitude, we’ve already gone through it with a very strong team like Benfica, even if it wasn’t a derby the result was excellent.”

Inzaghi was also full of praise for Romelu Lukaku, who has enjoyed a decent run of form in the team after what had been an enormously underwhelming first six months of his loan spell from Chelsea.
“You know him, you know what he can do. It’s what we expected during the year, unfortunately something unexpected happened both for him and for Brozovic who took away two indispensable players for many months. But what you see right now is a Lukaku who has approached the last month in the best possible way.”

Not a big Aldous Huxley / George Orwell fan I reckon

 

[forzainter257]

I have watched several matches with Turpin refereeing. The guy has been making lots of controversial decisions. Now I'm worried

 

[varmin]

My main grievance is giving any sort of long term commitment to an aging player. If we buy him this summer it will be a mistake. Much like Dzeko, you need to know when there's no juice left in the lemon.

I think depends on the price, salary and contract's length. I won't mind low cost two years deal.

 

[Jusef]

Considering Milan will be playing a high line and all out attack, Lukaku should start. He offers pace, which will be required to hit on the counter. Dzeko should come on after the break.

Inzaghi rested Dzeko on Saturday but he needs to be pragmatic about this and assess what’s best considering the opponent will be playing a high line.

 

[DARi0]

Clement Turpin will be the man with the whistle on Tuesday evening, assisted by Nicolas Danos, Benjamin Pages and Stephanie Frappart, with a VAR team consisting of Jerome Brisard and Benoit Millot.

Stefano Pioli was asked about the matter when he was sat in front of the press, but refused to be drawn, insisting: “I won’t reply, I won’t reply.”

Tonali, on the other hand, turned to his coach and joked: “I guess we have to find a referee without a nationality.”

 

[Jnr]

OMG this is gonna be a total war tomorrow. All the midfield pressure is on Tonali since he was their best player vs us last week. No Bennacer will be huge. If we mark him out they will suffer. Their only tactic is "pass to Leao and pray"


I Would love one thing happening ( besides 4-0 win) It would be soo ruthless and badass to just casually walk to Curva Nord to say thanks and walk off the pitch like any other matchday, no running around jubilations. This mentality would kill all meelan fans for good. Would mean they are just nobody to us lol.

 

[Besnik]

Oh man, Tonali is such an overrated player. If I wasn't too lazy, I would try to make a compilation on how he gives the ball away so easy, and lacks so many important attributes that a midfielder should own. I actually think Krunic does plenty of good stuff that goes under the shadow because they are so obsessed with Tonali.

Them missing Bennacer is great news for us. Brahim is also good ball-playing midfielder but he's VERY inconsistent. Milan can't do any damage with that midfield.

Leao is a real threat at any time, but whether he's fully fit to make difference, that's another case. I think we should only focus on ourselves and play our game like we do in usual. There won't be any problems though. They are doing so much just to distract us, but I think we got this.

 

[uny_arturo]

Considering Milan will be playing a high line and all out attack, Lukaku should start. He offers pace, which will be required to hit on the counter. Dzeko should come on after the break.

Inzaghi rested Dzeko on Saturday but he needs to be pragmatic about this and assess what’s best considering the opponent will be playing a high line.

I think the issue is, against a stronger team, Lukaku is a more impactful sub than Dzeko. Inzaghi doesn't want to be in a situation where we're 1 goal down and the only striker he can bring on is Dzeko (if one of Lukaku or Lautaro has gassed out).

In the past he played with 3 strikers for 10 mins or so but that has destabilised our defence. Remember that was the period when we lost tons of goals. So we've definitely learned from that experience. The question is whether we can get Lukaku up in time in case we're trailing behind Milan tomorrow. That'd be key.

 

[Jusef]

I think the issue is, against a stronger team, Lukaku is a more impactful sub than Dzeko. Inzaghi doesn't want to be in a situation where we're 1 goal down and the only striker he can bring on is Dzeko (if one of Lukaku or Lautaro has gassed out).

In the past he played with 3 strikers for 10 mins or so but that has destabilised our defence. Remember that was the period when we lost tons of goals. So we've definitely learned from that experience. The question is whether we can get Lukaku up in time in case we're trailing behind Milan tomorrow. That'd be key.

All good points. But the first half on Tuesday is arguably the most important. Pioli and Milan are probably planning on executing a high press; considering that Dzeko will be the starting striker over Lukaku, Inzaghi can exploit Milan by starting Lukaku who will at the very least be capable of holding up play and bringing the ball into their half quickly.

 

[Stefan]

Concentration and humility is the key. This game starts at 0-0, don't think about the 2-0 lead

 

[varmin]

So, the referees is French, as well as the few players from Milan. I can see very cheap penalty given to Theo incoming.

 

[wera]

We had the french legend K-Dog. Also Vieira. It's clear the referees will favour us.

 

[Mikele]

Leao is not a problem. One our player has to mark him all the time, and the others help him, depend in what part of the field he is. For coach that is not a big issue to organize. He is not Maradona. Just be sharp with him. On the verge of yellow card. Do not allow him to get the ball. I will say again, as I said before first game: we are better team and we will win easy!

 

[YoramG]

I’m not so much worried about Turpin’s nationality as I am about the fact that he’s a shit ref