Score and latest updates from the Champions League

06:55 PM

Preview

By Dylan Taylor

Hello and welcome to our preview of tonight’s Champions League quarter-final clash between Benfica and Inter Milan.

Benfica have won 23 of 27 league matches this season and also qualified for the Champions League last eight for a second successive season.

The Portuguese side have quickly put behind them their defeat to Porto on Friday and are now fully focused on tonight’s Champions League tie against Inter Milan, coach Roger Schmidt insisted.

“It’s part of football that sometimes you lose games. On Friday we lost an important game, but we’ve won a lot before and we always try to use the wins to develop and to grow and also with the defeats you can use them to create some positive,” Schmidt said during Monday’s pre-match press conference.

As for Inter, this season is proving to be a stressful one for their fans. Although they are still in the champions league, they have lost their last six matches and their hopes of a league title at the start of the season are long gone as Napoli are now 22 points ahead of them at the top of the table.

Pressure is increasing on Inter manager Simone Inzaghi, who criticised striker Romelu Lukaku for a string of missed chances during their 1-0 defeat to Fiorentina and 1-1 draw with lowly Salernitana over the past 10 days in Serie A, costing the team crucial points in their bid to secure a top-four finish.

After such a lean spell on the domestic front, reaching the Champions League semi-final would ease the pressure on Inzaghi. 

“Tomorrow, we know it won’t be easy against a strong, quality opponent but we know that together – and I think this is the word to use in the next two months – we can come away satisfied,” said Inzaghi. 

“The goal was to still be in all competitions in April. We are lacking in the league, but we have the chance to fight back,” added the manager, whose side are still alive in the Coppa Italia.

Benfica is playing in the quarterfinals for the second consecutive season. They were eliminated by eventual runner-up Liverpool last year.

Benfica are winless in all previous fixtures against Inter (two losses and a draw). This should give Inter players even more encouragement to put a season-best performance together tonight.

Stay with us for full coverage and live updates of tonight’s game.