Inter Milan scored three second-half goals to salvage a 3-3 draw with Benfica in a tense Champions League Group D battle on Wednesday, after Joao Mario netted a hat-trick for the hosts.
It was the first time Inter had come back from three goals down in the Champions League, and the comeback denied Benfica their first win over the Italians in major European competition after seven meetings.
Inter are tied on 11 points with Real Sociedad, while Benfica are bottom of the group with one point, three behind third-placed Salzburg.
Inter will host Real Sociedad in their final group meeting on December 12, a game that Simone Inzaghi’s team must win in order to finish first, while Benfica will play Salzburg in their final game with a Europa League spot still up for grabs.
“I’m very pleased with the team’s performance in the second half.” “We came close to winning,” Inzaghi told UEFA.com.
“We had a bad first half approach, we knew our opponents’ potential, and we needed to take the pitch in a different way.”
“During the interval we talked, we changed something and we played with a completely different spirit in the second half.”
After five minutes, Benfica broke the deadlock as Joao Mario finished first time after Casper Tengstedt headed it down for the former Inter star.
He then doubled the lead eight minutes later after the Inter defence failed to clear the ball, before completing his hat-trick in the 34th minute when he bundled the ball home from close range from a cross.
Joao Mario became only the second player in Champions League history to score a hat-trick against Inter, following Gareth Bale’s accomplishment with Tottenham Hotspur in 2010.
Inter struggled to get into the game, and their first chance came when Marko Arnautovic was denied in a one-on-one by Benfica goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin.
However, six minutes into the second half, Arnautovic equalised for Inter, and seven minutes later, Davide Frattesi scored another goal for the visitors with a well-placed volley.
After 72 minutes, Alexis Sanchez scored from the penalty spot after Nicolas Otamendi tripped Marcus Thuram.
Benfica were reduced to ten men in the closing minutes as Antonio Silva was sent off for a late challenge on Nicolo Barella.
Inter almost won the game in stoppage time, but Barella’s stunning long-range drive struck the crossbar.
“It’s hard to explain, to find the words after the first half we had then what happened in the second,” Joao Mario told reporters.
“We made some mistakes, to be sure, but some details worked against us tonight.” It’s difficult to understand why, after a first half like that, no one expected the game to conclude like this.”