Another sign that the future of Inter is very bright is that Inter’s U-19s are through to the NextGen semi-finals after beating a very good Sporting Lisbon 1-0 in Portugal. It is the first home defeat for Sporting all season.
The NextGen Series is an international tournament involving sixteen of the world’s best football clubs, including Barcelona, Manchester City, Sporting Lisbon and Liverpool and brings together some of the best talent in Europe in a Champions League style format.
Inter has finished second in their group, which meant that they had to travel to Portugal to take on a Sporting Lisbon side that was unbeaten in the competition.
Inter were content to sit back and defend against Sporting and then try and hit their Portuguese opponents on the counter attack.
And those tactics paid off when Inter went ahead 57 minutes when Ibrahima Mbaye headed home from Daniel Bessa’s corner. It was Mbaye’s first goal for Inter and it could not have come at a better time.
Inter’s goal led a charmed life in the second half and they somehow managed to hold out and beat the tournament favorites 1-0.
Inter will now face Marseille, who recorded a 2-1 victory against Aston Villa at Villa Park, with the two remaining quarter finals, Tottenham Hotspur versus Liverpool and Barcelona versus Ajax being played on the 1st and 8th of February respectively.
