Matteo Darmian accompanied Simone Inzaghi to Inter’s pre-Benfica press conference ahead of the Champions League quarter-final second leg at San Siro on Wednesday evening.
The former Manchester United defender affirmed that the Nerazzurri squad are focussed and determined to finish the job they started in the first leg in Portugal.
Inter carry a two-goal advantage into the return fixture, but Inzaghi warned of a potentially ‘complicated’ game against a Benfica side who currently have nothing to lose.
Darmian told the media: “There’s certainly the desire to see out this last month in the best possible way because we’re playing a lot, starting tomorrow night. We know it’ll be difficult but we’re focused on tomorrow.
“We’ve had a good run and we want to continue. If I have to choose one (moment from this campaign), I think about the first leg at the Camp Nou.
“We know that we’re not having our best moment in the league, we can’t unlock or close matches and we concede goals at the first chances.
“The points we expected or perhaps deserved aren’t arriving, it’s a situation we want to change, but tomorrow it’s a Champions League match and we’re focused on that.
Darmian went on to express his gratitude to the Inter supporters, who have stuck by the team throughout a largely disappointing season outside of the Champions League.
Inzaghi and his players have gone five games without a win in Serie A and have now slipped out of the top four, making a run in the Champions League even more important than it previously had been.
“Since the beginning of the year they have always been of great support and great help. I’m sure they will do it again tomorrow evening, we certainly want to give them a feeling of satisfaction.”
The Azzurri full-back als said that the team don’t need any additional motivation to get back to winning ways and that they are fully prepared to see off Benfica on Wednesday.
He said that getting back into the Serie A top four is “definitely one of our goals at this point of the season and I don’t think we need any other reward or anything like that. We know how important it is to achieve this goal.
“We also know how important tomorrow’s match is, we want to play a great game. It will certainly depend on the attitude we put on the pitch. It’s something we absolutely want.”