Rome (AFP)
Inter Milan and Real Madrid thought they would compete for the head of their group in the Champions League but here they are face to face to avoid ending up in last place, promised to the defeated Wednesday night at San Siro.
Zinédine Zidane and Antonio Conte may be used to the pressure, the ex-teammates of Juventus are playing big, even if neither of the two landmark clubs (13 C1 for Real, 3 for Inter) will be eliminated in the event of a defeat Wednesday evening.
Inter Milan, the only team in Group B without a win at the end of the first leg, is the worst off: a new setback, after that of the first leg in Madrid (3-2), would bring it seriously closer to a third consecutive elimination in the group stage.
In addition to the bad financial news in this economically precarious year due to the coronavirus pandemic (Inter should announce losses of the order of 100 million euros for 2019-2020), it would be a hell of a hitch in the ambitions of Antonio Conte, who arrived in 2019 to bring the Nerazzurri back to the top.
"For us, it's a final, we need a result after the first leg defeat against Real and the two previous draws. We don't have many solutions to get out of it," Antonio Conte admitted on Tuesday .
- Lukaku in leader mode -
Conte knows: Inter, who have not played a round of 16 in C1 since 2012, will find it difficult to console themselves again with the "small" Europa League (final lost last season).
This would be too little in view of the efforts made to densify the workforce with in particular the arrivals of Achraf Hakimi (40 million euros transfer) and Arturo Vidal (6 million salary per season), while the Danish Christian Eriksen, arrived in January, seems already on the go.
"We are not yet a great team," admitted Sunday striker Romelu Lukaku, once again saver of the Milanese in a complicated game against Torino (4-2 victory after being down 0-2).
The Belgian, whose absence weighed heavily on the first leg in Madrid, is establishing himself more than ever as the leader of a team still looking for a first reference match.
At Real either, despite the victory of the first leg, serenity is not really required at the start of the season after the false starts of the first matches of C1 (home defeat against Shakhtar, no one snatched in extremis from Mönchengladbach).
- Benzema package -
Elimination of the C1 from the group stage would have the appearance of an earthquake: the club has always managed to qualify in 24 consecutive participations since 1997. Enough to shake the statue of Zinédine Zidane himself, despite the harvest of titles obtained by the French on the bench (treble 2016-2017-2018 in the Champions League, two Ligas ...).
Even if he says he does not look at the consequences of a result in Lombardy, a defeat would certainly mean days of turmoil for his Real, also jostled in La Liga.
The Madrilenians are only fourth (with two draws and two defeats in 9 matches), after the new points abandoned on Saturday at Villarreal (1-1).
In Milan, Real will have to compose without two of the three scorers in the first leg: captain Sergio Ramos (injured in a thigh and absent for a few days), but especially Karim Benzema, still embarrassed by his hamstring injury in his right leg and not retained in the group.
Not to mention the unavailability of Luka Jovic, Eder Militao (Covid-19) and Fede Valverde (injured).
Without Ramos, Real Madrid have lost seven of their last eight matches in C1: "We know the importance of Sergio, but the statistics are made to be denied. It's a final, we know the standings, but we are ready to suffer for these three points, "said Zinédine Zidane.
For Conte, however, "Real have a very complete squad, talking about absences is a bit of a smile".
© 2020 AFP