Inter Milan coach Simone Inzaghi has warned his side must match Benfica’s high intensity when they go head-to-head again in the Champions League.
The Nerazzurri drew their opening Group D match with Real Sociedad, while Benfica lost at home to Red Bull Salzburg having played most of the match with 10 men.
Inter beat the Portuguese side at the quarter-final stage of last season’s Champions League as they went on to finish as runners-up to Manchester City.
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Inzaghi knows just what to expect when they face Roger Schmidt’s men again at San Siro on Tuesday night.
“It will be a tough match – we will be facing a team that play at a very high intensity and won the Portuguese Super Cup (in August),” Inzaghi said.
“They are a well-established team because they have had the same head coach for a while now.
“They lost their first Champions League match, but played the vast majority of the match with 10 men. Despite that, they had several chances and deserved a different result.”
Inzaghi told a press conference: “They possess more quality (this season), but their playing principles remain the same. We need to display intensity because Benfica are a great side.
“Benfica are coming into this game on the back of a victory over Porto, while we managed to win in Salerno.
“We are convinced we can produce a big performance. I am happy with how we’re progressing, and we promise to always give everything and win as many matches as possible.”
Inter’s veteran wing-back Juan Cuadrado, a summer signing from Juventus, has been recovering from tendinitis since early September, but could be back in contention for the European tie after being able to return to full training with the rest of the squad.
“I still have to make my assessments as far as who will play from the start,” Inzaghi said.
“We were without him after the first matches (of the season), and I am counting on him in the next matches.”
Midfielders Stefano Sensi and Davide Frattesi, though, are still not under consideration while forward Marko Arnautovic remains sidelined by a hamstring strain.
Schmidt feels Inter have carried on from where they left off last season.
“They are at the top of the (Italian) league and they play good football,” the Benfica coach told a press conference.
“They haven’t lost key players, they are used to each other and have the same coach, so it is a challenge to play against them. They are a complete team.
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“We are not afraid. We know it is difficult, but we believe in ourselves.
“We have experience in European games and what we try to do is show our best football, maintain our approach and fight for the three points, so that is the objective for tomorrow.”
Benfica centre-back Antonio Silva will be suspended having been sent off after just 13 minutes against Salzburg, while Brazilian defender Joao Victor has been left out of the travelling squad for disciplinary reasons.
'I will keep fighting' - Ten Hag adamant he is the right manager for Man Utd
Erik ten Hag insists that he is the right man for the job at Manchester United despite their 4-0 thrashing at the hands of Crystal Palace on Monday.
Michael Olise netted twice against a sorry United team at Selhurst Park, with Jean-Philippe Mateta and Tyrick Mitchell also getting on the scoresheet.
It is the first time that Palace have done the double over the Red Devils in the Premier League, as United extended their winless run on the road to five games.
There has been a lot of speculation over Ten Hag’s future following a disappointing second campaign in charge, with just one year left on his contract.
Asked if he was the right manager for United, he told Sky Sports: "Absolutely. If the right players are there and available, we have a good squad, but are missing the whole backline – we had problems.
"I will keep fighting. I prepared the team in the best way I could do. It was not good enough, by far – I have to take responsibility for that. But I will find energy and prepare them for Sunday’s game.
"At the end of the day, I have to do it with the players who are available. All season, we have huge [injury] problems. Many times we have sorted it out. Today we didn’t."
United have struggled with injury problems all season, with Harry Maguire and club captain Bruno Fernandes joining the lengthy list of players missing against Palace.
Ten Hag highlighted the lack of defensive options at his disposal but did not make excuses for the poor performance, adding: "It’s clear and obvious – this is underperforming. It’s not good enough. We are very disappointed in this. Our fans were behind us all the way – we should have kept fighting like the fans did.
"There are always reasons. Everyone sees our backline, we have huge problems, but at the end of the day we have to deal with it – we should have done better than we did.
"We know [how damaging it could be], but we have nine points to play, so we have to fight for the nine points."
Man Utd thrashing a 'big statement' but Palace are not surprised, says Eze
Eberechi Eze says Crystal Palace's 4-0 thrashing of Manchester United is a "big statement" but insists there should be little surprise that it happened.
Micheal Olise scored twice as Palace ran riot against the sorry Red Devils at Selhurst Park on Monday.
Jean-Philippe Mateta and Tyrick Mitchell also got in on the act as Palace sealed their first league double over United.
Palace have now won four of their last five Premier League games, with Oliver Glasner having turned the tide in the past few weeks.
Speaking to Sky Sports, Eze said: "It says a lot, it's a big statement, but we're not surprised.
"We know what we're capable of, we know what we can do. The quality we've got in the dressing room is high – we don't see it as a surprise. We know what we came here to do today, it worked.
"You can see we’re creating chances, we're not worried about what's going on behind us. We're attacking, pressing, we're aggressive – we're going to continue to create chances for sure."
Also speaking to Sky Sports, Glasner said: "Congratulations to the team. I think in the first half, we didn't play as well as we could, but we were very efficient and scored very nice goals.
"At half-time, we made some adaptations, and the second half was much better. We created a lot of chances, scored some nice goals, and it's a great win.
"We know we have quality when we get our players in situations to score a goal.
"Good players, a good team spirit, but we must always stay humble. It's not so long ago we were struggling [in a relegation battle]. We are doing well, but we have a lot to improve."
This was Palace's biggest Premier League win since beating Leeds United 5-1 in April 2023, while it also marked their biggest on home soil in the competition since a 5-0 victory over Leicester City in April 2018.
Udinese 1-1 Napoli: Struggling Bianconeri grab last-gasp home draw
Napoli were held to a 1-1 draw at relegation-battling Udinese in Serie A on Monday after a stoppage-time goal by forward Isaac Success cancelled out a Victor Osimhen header.
Osimhen nodded home to give Napoli the lead in the 51st minute after Matteo Politano sent a lofted cross from the right into the middle of the box, and the Nigerian striker headed the ball in off the left post.
The Nigerian thought he doubled their advantage in the 80th minute, but his effort was ruled out for offside, before Success bundled in the leveller in stoppage time, netting from a Thomas Kristensen header.
Napoli moved up to eighth on 51 points from 35 games and are nine points behind both fifth-placed Atalanta and Roma, in sixth.
Data Debrief:
Osimhen is the third Napoli player to score in six matches in a row against a single team in Serie A in the three-points-for-a-win era, after Gonzalo Higuain against Lazio between 2013 and 2016 and Dries Mertens against Bologna between 2016 and 2019.
Despite fighting back to earn a point, Udinese have now failed to win three games under a new manager for the first time since August-September 2010 under Francesco Guidolin.
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