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Milan -- Inter Milan are looking like one of the stronger European sides this season. After beating FC Barcelona in the group stage of the current Champions League campaign, Simone Inzaghi's team won 1-0 in the first leg of the round of 16 against Porto on Wednesday at San Siro thanks to a late goal scored by Romelu Lukaku, putting themselves on the verge of the quarterfinals. The victory came as a result of the coach playing his cards right in the short term and long term, while having a healthier squad. 

Simone Inzaghi can now finally count on relevant players that are now back in form. Lautaro Martinez has scored eight goals since he won the 2022 World Cup with Argentina and started off the new year with a new spirit, being much more confident about himself. Adding to that, after Milan Skriniar's captaincy was stripped, Lautaro became the new captain of the club when Samir Handanovic is not playing. Skriniar lost his position after he told the club that he will leave for PSG as a free agent at the end of the current season, and Lautaro became the favorite option of his teammates to replace him. Inzaghi can now also count on players back from injuries such as Marcelo Brozovic and Romelu Lukaku, that were basically injured for nearly the entire season and missed too many games.

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The former Chelsea striker scored the winning goal against Porto and finally marked a comeback after the disappointing start of the season, when he only scored three goals in 13 games. Lukaku needed a performance and a goal like the one he scored in the second half against Porto, after he came on and replaced Edin Dzeko. The Belgian needs to score more if he wants to have chances to stay next season, considering that he's on loan until the end of the current one from Chelsea. "Big Rom" knows that and he needs to deliver as he did on Wednesday night at San Siro. If he scores,he stays, as simple as that. Inzaghi new he had to come off the bench, and he was rewarded. Now we will see if the manager rewards Lukaku with more minutes.

Another smart option was that of Andre Onana, who was once again crucial and saved his teammates in the second half. This is another choice made by Simone Inzaghi at the beginning of the season that completely changed the rules inside the dressing room of this team. It was not easy at all to bench club's captain, Handanovic, but it became necessary at one point considering the performances on the pitch. Onana took his place silently and he now has a key role in this team. His saves were fundamental and probably the main reason why Inter didn't concede a goal in the first leg.

It's clear that, if Inter get past Porto, their chances to get into the semifinals will mainly depend on the draw, but Inter can compete against bigger clubs as they showed in the past season against Liverpool, when they lost despite winning the second leg at Anfield. Inzaghi's team suffers more against smaller clubs and this is why they're behind in the Serie A table this season. Inter Milan won the Derby della Madonnina against AC Milan twice this year, including their 3-0 victory in the Supercoppa final and also won against FC Barcelona at home and drew away at the Camp Nou. Not to mention, this is the only team to defeat runaways Serie A leaders Napoli, arguably the best team in the world right now, in league play.

Inzaghi has proven to be able to get crucial results in high-stakes situations with new names and old names stepping up. He'll need the same on March 14 as the Nerazzurri travel to Porto with his club's European dreams on the line.