Inter Milan reached the UEFA Champions League semifinals with a 4-3 aggregate win over Bayern Munich after an enthralling 2-2 draw in the second leg of their quarterfinal tie at the San Siro on Wednesday (Apr 16). The Italians will face FC Barcelona next, who they defeated at the semi-final stage in 2010 before going on to beat Bayern in the final to complete the treble, and Simone Inzaghi's side are still on course to repeat that feat this season.
"It's a beautiful evening, lived in our stadium, in front of our fans against a very strong team," Inzaghi said. "We had to play two great games, putting everything we had. The boys were splendid, it's a victory to share with the whole Inter world.
"We are moving forward in this long season that is giving us so many emotions."
It was a far from comfortable evening for Inter, but they did just enough in a pulsating clash between the top teams from Serie A and the Bundesliga.
Bayern, who lost the first leg 2-1, were the more aggressive side from the off, with Yann Sommer saving a shot on the turn from Thomas Müller early on.
A mistake by Nicolo Barella allowed Muller to steal possession and play a pass into Michael Olise but Alessandro Bastoni nicked the ball off his toe before he could get a shot away.
Inter came close with a Hakan Çalhanoglu curled shot from distance but then needed some desperate defending after Konrad Laimer's pullback from the byline.
Matteo Darmian blocked down Muller's shot and Sommer saved Leroy Sane's rebound effort, and the side's went in goalless at the break.
Bayern's first attack of the second half led to Harry Kane netting his 11th goal of this season's competition.
Leon Goretzka played the ball into Kane who took his time before teeing up a shot from a wide angle which he sent through the legs of Federico Dimarco and into the far corner.
Bayern's joy lasted all of six minutes, as Lautaro Martínez scored from a corner kick. His first headed effort came back off Joshua Kimmich and the Inter striker made no mistake with his shot from the rebound.
"We will remember this for a long time," Martinez said. "Inter don't give up, we have personality, heart and head. We suffered, but we showed once again that we can do great things. Every year that starts, we try to win everything.
"It will be an important match against a great opponent, in the Champions League they have a lot of history. But now we concentrate on the league, then we'll think about the Champions League."
Inter went in search of a goal to kill off Bayern and found it within three minutes. Darmian had a shot cleared off the line by Eric Dier and from the resulting corner Benjamin Pavard powered a header past Jonas Urbig.
Bayern, however, refused to give in, and after a short corner, Serge Gnabry floated a ball into the box and Dier's attempt at a headed cross from the byline ended up finding the net.
With 14 minutes still remaining, a nervy ending was guaranteed. Sommer made a diving save from Muller deep into added time and the hosts held on and for the first time the Germans failed to win away to Inter, and exited the competition.
