Inter Milan’s Alessandro Bastoni: “We Don’t Fear Benfica Just Like We Didn’t Fear Barcelona, Porto & Bayern” | OneFootball

Inter defender Alessandro Bastoni feels that, considering Inter have not been afraid of any of the other teams that they’ve faced in the Champions League, there’s no reason for them to fear Benfica either.

Speaking in a press conference ahead of tomorrow’s Champions League quarterfinal first leg at the Estadia da Luz, as reported by FCInterNews, the 23-year-old stressed not having any trepidation, whilst he also talked about his contract extension negotiations.

Inter head into tomorrow evening’s match knowing that they’re facing one of the most in-form teams in all of Europe in the form of Roger Schmidt’s Benfica side.

However, the Nerazzurri have already gotten out of a group containing Bayern and Barcelona as well as Viktoria Plzen, and then made it to the quarterfinals by beating Porto on aggregate.

Inter showed that they were at home in these ties, and Bastoni expects that they can also do the same against Benfica.

“Benfica have great quality, but we don’t fear them any more than we feared Barcelona, ​​Bayern, or Porto,” the defender said.

“We have to stay compact if we’re going to cause them problems.”

Of the defensive preparations for tomorrow evening’s match, the 23-year-old said that “Just as we always have, the entire team defends as a unit.”

“The defensive phase begins with the forwards, defending is a matter for the entire team,” he added.

Of the team’s mental state going into tomorrow evening’s match, Bastoni said that “We’re all aware that there’s a goal within reach that this team hasn’t managed to reach for twelve years.”

“Tomorrow will be a very tense match, given how important it is, but it’s a football match and we have to face it with love for the sport,” he added.

Of the differences between Inter in the Champions League and then in Serie A, the 23-year-old said that “They’re two different competitions, but we always give 100%.”

“We’ve put in good performances in the league, but the results haven’t followed,” he added.

“We’e have never had the wrong attitude, we know that tomorrow is a great opportunity,” Bastoni said, “we need to show cutting edge and determination.”

Regarding what the team can get from a win tomorrow, the 23-year-old said that “It can certainly give us a big boost in morale for the run-in of the season, considering that we haven’t been getting what we’ve warranted in the league.”

Asked about his mental state going into tomorrow’s match, Bastoni said “I’m very calm, I always go into football matches the same way, with calmness and focus.”

Regarding his contract extension situation, the 23-year-old said that “I’m not distracted by contract talks, my agent is taking care of it with the club, there’s no problem there.”

And when asked whether the team have looked for any explanations for their poor recent form in the league, Bastoni responded that “I don’t think there are great explanations to give, we squandered several good chances.”

“Among ourselves we always analyze everything, and in this case we’ve come to the conclusion that we haven’t had the wrong attitude at all, so we go into this match with calmness,” he added.