Coach Roger Schmidt from the Portuguese football champions Benfica Lisbon has not given up hope of entering the Champions League semi-finals.
“Of course that’s not the best basis for the second leg, but we still believe in it,” said Schmidt after the 2-0 (0-0) loss in the first leg of the quarter-finals against Inter Milan.
Nicolo Barella (51st) and Romelu Lukaku (82nd, hand penalty after video evidence) had brought Inter much closer to their first semi-final since 2010. “We tried everything. The players fought as best they could. We tried to create chances, but it’s not easy against Inter, they are well organized and have a lot of players behind the ball,” said Schmidt, who played the Penalty decision called “unlucky”.
Milan coach Simone Inzaghi curbed the euphoria with a view to the second leg on April 19. “Benfica are a very strong team. They can cause us problems at any time, we haven’t won anything yet. We have to play in Milan like we played here,” said Inzaghi.