Shalke 2-1 Inter (Agg 7-3) Champions league quarter final match report & reactions

That's it the reigning champions are out of the competition after an embarrassing 7-3 agg defeat to Shalke, obviously the worst of the damage was done in the 1st leg but even after all the talk from the Inter camp about believing in being able to turn it around on the night only a handful of Inter players looked like they had the passion to win, yes we had the majority of possession and our passing was good but there was no creativity and there was a definite spark missing from our finishing our only goal of the game was more fluke than intention when Motta managed to get a touch that bounced into the net. The most impressive Inter player again for me was Yuto Nagatomo who never gave up and put 110% in to trying to create something for the Nerazzurri. So who's to blame? .......

Shalke v Inter Preview Champions league quarter final 2nd leg

Here we are just a few hours from the 2nd leg of the Champions league quarter finals against Shalke, (cue the Mission Impossible music) and already most people have written off our chances of progressing to the semis but is it really that impossible for Inter to pull off the comeback again in Germany?  Everyone at Inter and all us Nerazzurri faithful don't seem to think so, i mean if they can score 5 against us in the 1st leg then why should it be so unlikely that we can get 4 tonight?  As long as Leonardo puts a bit of emphasis and pace in the defense like he did against Chievo last weekend there's no reason why we can't show the Germans the door, and as an extra boost for Inter Walter Samuel is in the squad for the first time since his injury in November, though i really think Leonardo shouldn't play him in this match and risk him, that said i don't see anything wrong with putting him on for the last 10 minutes just to get him some competitive match practice.

Inter v Shalke match report & reactions

What can i say about last nights Champions league quarter final first leg tie against Shalke?  Well let's start with the positives, firstly Milito is back in the starting line up and scored for us and second is Stankovic's wonder goal from 40 yards out in the first 25 seconds of the match (if you missed it see the video above)  Unfortunately that was as good as it got for Inter as the two goals we got during the first half were cancelled out by two goals for Shalke before half time, after half time things went from bad to worse for the Nerazzurri and in a similar style to the derby defeat at the weekend, Shalke managed to make us look like complete amatuers instead of world champions and for the second game in a row Chivu saw a red card yet again weakening our already shaky backline, which was also suffered the blow of an own goal by Ranocchia.  So after another terrible performance by Inter the game ended 2-5 to Shalke meaning that Inter need at least 4 goals on the return leg meaning the mighty Nerazzurri are effectively out of the running for making it through to the semi's. 

So who's to blame? The official verdict from Inter's camp is that the players are fatigued which i can understand after last years amazing run and the world cup followed by loads of injuries and the ridiculous amount of matches played in 2011 so far, but with the squad Inter has at it's disposal that excuse only goes so far to explain this awful week.  The true reason in my opinion is the management as we know the first half of the season was destroyed by Benitez who couldn't organise a pub team let alone anything else then things looked better when Leonardo took over at Christmas but over the last month or so it is becoming more apparent that his tactics only favour an attacking mentality and he seems to give no thought to the defensive side of the team and considering how strong our defense was last season there is no excuse for this and as much as i hate to say it come the end of the season he has to go to be replaced with a manager that can balance the team properley.

Inter v Shalke Champions league quarter final preview

Well after the farce that was the derby on Saturday let's hope that Inter pull themselves together and sort out their defensive strategy for their Champions league quarter final match tonight against Shalke, i've said it alot this season that Inter's defense without Walter Samuel is dodgy at best.  Our other defenders like Lucio & Ranocchia on paper should be more than capable of stopping most attackers but the all out attack mentality that Leonardo has brought to the Inter team means there isn't sufficient cover at the back and small mistakes are becoming very costly.

As far as Shalke goes we have got a slight advantage that they have recently changed their manager though we still need to be careful as this is the Champions league quarter final and every team at this stage have proved they are worthy of being there, the biggest threat posed to Inter will be Shalke's Raul who has got a huge amount of Champions league experience with his former team Real Madrid and everyone knows he is capable of scoring plenty of goals but if Inter can perform the way we know they can then this should be a fairly easy game for us.

Inter's reactions to Champions League draw

Following Inter's draw with Shalke, the team considered to be the weakest in the last 8 of this years competition, we can consider ourselves fortunate we didn't get one of the big teams and hopefully qualifying for the semis should be a walk in the park for us as long as the players don't get complacent.  See what various representatives of Inter had to say on the draw.....

Champions League Quarter Finals & Semi Final Draw

So the Champions league quarter finals have been drawn and decided, Inter have drawn Shalke 04 in the Quarter finals with the winner facing Celsea or Man Utd in the Semis. What do you think of the draw? Are you going to watch your favourite team? Get all your Champions League match tickets by following the link above.  See below for the full draws & my predictions.