Benfica and Inter tie in a frenetic match

He Benfica and the Inter Milan They were held to a 3-3 draw on Wednesday in a thrilling match, which featured a hat trick from Joao Mário in the first half and three Milan goals in the second, putting the Nerazzurri in a good position to take first place in group D. .

Three goals from Joao Mário against his former team highlighted one of the best 45 minutes this season for Benfica, who however failed to maintain the momentum against an Inter who came back unrecognizable from the break.

For this fifth match of the Champions League, Simone Inzaghi appeared in the Portuguese capital with an almost different team, with 8 changes compared to his last match, against Juventus.

Qualification for the round of 16 is already assured and the tight schedule in Serie A – with a clash against champions Napoli on the horizon – has left the Nerazzurri coach without some of his heavyweights, such as Lautaro Martínez, but, despite the quality of their bench, they were unable to cope with the urgency of Benfica’s approach to the game.

The Lisbon team entered this fifth round at the bottom of the group without any points, unable to advance and with their eyes on the Europa League, and they took the initiative as soon as possible.

And in the sixth minute of the match, João Mário’s revenge began.

The Portuguese midfielder – who is going through the worst phase of his career in his two-and-a-half seasons at the San Siro – received a pass from Danish Tengsted inside the area and beat goalkeeper Emil Audero.

Mário’s celebration continued a few minutes later, on the 13th.

Very close to the area, Asllani beat the ball to Tengsted, who gave it to Rafa Silva. The Portuguese winger shot against the Inter defense, but Mário, on the rebound, got his double.

There were several visits to the Nerazzurri in goal defended by the Ukrainian Trubin. The most dangerous situation occurred midway through the first half with Arnautovic, who was able to avoid Otamendi, but not the goalkeeper of the Portuguese champions.

The hat trick, the first of João Mário’s career, came in the 34′, and in a play involving both protagonists.

Tengsted crosses to the right, but Rafa misses the ball, which beats Audero and lands at the feet of an inspired Mario.

The Milanese came back from the break with less lethargy than they had shown in the first half and after several chances saved by Trubin, they scored through Arnautovic in the 53rd minute.

Moments later, Inter scored again. Acerbi crossed from the left wing and Frattesi, with a first-time shot, brought his team back into contention.

Equality returned to the scoreboard in the 72nd minute, when Otamendi brought down Thuram in the area and Chilean Alexis Sánchez made no mistake from the penalty spot.

Despite the blow, Benfica reacted well and went close to a fourth through Argentine Ángel Di María’s long-distance shot, thanks to Audero’s phenomenal defence.

However, the aspirations of the ‘incarnate’ formation suffered a severe setback moments later, when they were left with ten on the field after the red card shown to young centre-back António Silva, who kicked out a second time here. ‘Champions’.

Near the final whistle, Nicolò Barella almost missed the three points for Italy, but his powerful shot ended up hitting the “eagles'” goal post.

With the tie, Inter Milan left the decider for first place in group D to host Real Sociedad in the next round, while Benfica will visit Salzburg to fight for a place in the Europa League.

BENEFIT

33

INTER DE MILAN

3 – Benfica: Trubin; Aursnes, António Silva, Otamendi, Morato; Florentino (Kökçü, min.79), João Neves; Di María (T. Araújo, min.88), João Mário (Chiquinho, min.90+9), Rafa Silva (Gouveia, min.90+10) and Tengstedt (Musa, min.79).

3 – Inter Milan: Audero; Bisseck, Acerbi, De Vrij (Dimarco, min.77); Darmian (Juan Cuadrado, min.68), Frattesi, Klaassen (Barella, min.69), Asllani, Carlos Augusto; Arnautovic (Thuram, min.69) and Alexis Sánchez (Lautaro Martínez, min.80).

The objectives: 1-0: João Mário, m.6; 2-0: João Mário, m.13; 3-0: João Mário, min. 3. 4; 3-1, min.53: Arnautovic; 3-2, min.58: Frattesi; 3-3: Alexis Sánchez, min.72.

Referee: Andris Treimanis (LAT). He showed the yellow card to João Mário, Morato and coach Roger Schmidt and the red card to António Silva from Benfica and the yellow card to Juan Cuadrado, from Inter Milan.

Happenings: Match corresponding to the fifth day of Group D of the group stage of the soccer Champions League played at the Estadio da Luz in Lisbon in front of 52,994 spectators.

see the match sheet