Inter Milan Defender Alessandro Bastoni: Not An Easy Period In Serie A, But Benfica In Champions League An Unique Opportunity | OneFootball

Inter defender Alessandro Bastoni feels that tomorrow evening’s Champions League quarterfinal first leg match against Benfica can be a great chance for the Nerazzurri to put their recent poor form in Serie A in the past.

Speaking to Italian broadcaster SportMediaset, via FCInterNews, the 23-year-old gave his view on what the opportunity to reach the semifianls of Europe’s top club competition represents for he and his teammates.

Inter have been having a pretty rough go of it in Serie A at the moment.

Draws against Porto in the Champions League and Juventus in the Coppa Italia have at least been sufficient results, but in the league it has been three consecutive losses followed by a 1-1 draw away to Salernitana which felt like a defeat.

However, the Nerazzurri will have to quickly put all of that our of their heads and focus on a massive one-off match against high-flying Benfica at the Estadio da Luz.

“It certainly hasn’t been an easy period in the league, at least from the point of view of the results, because I think that in terms of our attitude and the run of play we haven’t gotten the results that we’ve deserved in truth,” Bastoni said.

“Still, we certainly have to keep the morale high, because we have a unique opportunity here, at a stage of the competition that Inter haven’t been in in the past twelve years,” the defender continued.

The 23-year-old admitted that “We’ve certainly been guilty of not being clinical with our chances, we’ve had numerous chances that we haven’t been able to make the best out of but we can get out of moments like this with team spirit and unity.”

“I’m sure when I say this,” Bastoni added, “we have a great group.”

Of his feelings ahead of playing at the Estadio da Luz tomorrow, Bastoni said that “Coming here to play such an important match in such a beautiful stadium is something that all players dream of, we take energy from it.”

And regarding what he expects to be the deciding factor tomorrow, the Inter defender predicted that “It will certainly be a match that turns on individual moments, they’re a great team and very quick up front, and so we’ll have to stay united and compact.”