For the first time in over five years, there’s a concrete possibility of seeing a Serie A club in the Champions League final, something that Inter hold the keys to.
UEFA completed their Champions League draw yesterday, pairing up Inter with Benfica and putting Milan and Napoli together in the quarter-finals. The draw also confirmed that the winners of these two ties would face each other in the semi-finals, making it likely that an Italian team could go all the way.
The other side of the bracket sees Chelsea take on Real Madrid and Manchester City face off with Bayern Munich, much more difficult draws on paper. This was an incredibly positive result for Serie A, who now have three teams in one side of the bracket.
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For Milan and Napoli, there’s little more they can do than to win their all-Italian derby in the quarter-finals, but Inter are in an interesting position, facing off against Primeira Liga leaders Benfica.
Should the Nerazzurri dispatch their Portuguese opposition, they’d confirm the return of an Italian club to the Champions League final. Losing, however, puts the pressure on the winner of Milan-Napoli to beat Benfica to bring Serie A back to the grandest stage in European club football.
It won’t be easy for Simone Inzaghi’s side. Roger Schmidt’s Benfica have looked electric this season, dropping points just three times in the league and topping a Champions League group containing both Paris Saint-Germain and Juventus, and they’ll be confident of their chances in the quarter-finals.
Inter were the last Italian team to win the Champions League and the team who broke Juventus’ decade of dominance, and now they have a chance to further Serie A once again.