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Milan -- There is something different when Simone Inzaghi's Inter play in Europe. Tuesday's 1-0 against Benfica, secured thanks to a Marcus Thuram goal just after the hour mark is just the latest example. The Nerazzurri, for years, struggled when they were playing outside Italy and even when coaches Luciano Spalletti and Antonio Conte were in charge of the Italian side. Inter never reached the Round of 16 and were knocked out from the group stages for three consecutive seasons. When the club appointed Inzaghi back in the summer 2021, though, all that changed.

This Champions League campaign might seem like it's going smoothly. It started with a draw against Real Sociedad away and, now, a win at home against Benfica. But the breakthrough from Thuram, who in the summer replaced Romelu Lukaku, wasn't guaranteed. Inter struggled to get on the board against the rugged Portuguese team in the second half, but San Siro was in full Champions League mood. One of those nights that last season led Inzaghi's team to reach the final in Istanbul, and one that in previous seasons might not have happened.    

The former Lazio coach has managed to change the attitude of the team when they are playing Champions League soccer. In his first season in charge, Inter managed to immediately reach the Round of 16 for the first time in over a decade, and were knocked out by Liverpool despite winning 1-0 at Anfield. Last season, Inter were the surprise of the year and knocked out FC Barcelona in the group stage first and then reached the final after beating Porto, Benfica and AC Milan before losing 1-0 to Manchester City.

For sure, the experience and self confidence of some key players improved thanks to the results on the pitch, but also thanks to the disappointing results of the years before. Players like Alessandro Bastoni, Nicolò Barella, Lautaro Martinez or Federico Dimarco never played a single Champions League match before joining Inter. However, Inzaghi was able to install a different mentality in the dressing room, in building on previous seasons' succeses they have gradually started to believe more and more that they could also achieve important results in Europe. Last season, they almost did it.

Inzaghi is widely considered as a manager that makes his teams perform better when it comes to shorter competitions. In fact, with Inter, he won the Coppa Italia twice and the Italian Super Cup twiceand reached the Champions League final, but also failed to win the Serie A title in either of his two seasons, despite taking the job immediately after Antonio Conte's Scudetto winning run. This season things look different, and Inter will definitely try to win the Scudetto after starting off the season well with six wins and one defeat in seven games. But, with nights like tonight under their belt, it's possible that dreaming of the Scudetto is only the start.