Inzaghi under pressure as Inter Milan visits Porto in UCL

Rome, March 13 (BNA): After another disappointing loss in Serie A, Inter Milan coach Simone Inzaghi is under increasing pressure to deliver in the Champions League as his team visits Porto in the round of 16 on Tuesday.

Inter hold a slim 1-0 advantage from the first leg and Inzahiji’s long-term future at the club may depend on how the team performs this week after crashing out of the Serie A title challenge.

While Inter still occupies second place in the Italian League, the 2-1 loss against relegation-threatened Spezia on Friday cast more doubts about Inzaghi’s position, as his team is 18 points behind leader Napoli, according to the Associated Press.

A home game against Juventus is over next Sunday, and Inzaghi’s job could be seriously threatened if Inter lose both matches this week.

Some Inter fans are already calling for Antonio Conte to return, with the Italian coach’s future at Tottenham unclear beyond this season.

Inzaghi will also have a difficult decision to make over whether to start Romelu Lukaku – who scored the late winner in the first leg – or Edin Dzeko up front alongside Lautaro Martinez against the Portuguese side.

In contrast, Porto have an impressive home record and have won nine of their past ten matches at the Estadio do Dragao. The only blip came immediately after losing the first leg to Inter, when they lost 2-1 to Gil Vicente and had two players sent off.

However, the hosts will miss midfielder Ottavio, who was sent off in the first leg, while defender Joao Mario will miss due to a knee injury.

Inter have not reached the quarter-finals since being knocked out at that point as defending champions in 2011. Porto have reached the final eight in two of the past four seasons, although they haven’t gone beyond that since lifting the trophy in 2004.

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