Inter industry pays off for Milito

Diego Milito was understandably buoyant after scoring FC Internazionale Milano's winning goal against PFC CSKA Moskva, but insisted he had his team-mates to thank for "a great team performance" which leaves the Nerazzurri within sight of the UEFA Champions League semi-finals.
 
Milito pounced to score the only goal of the quarter-final first leg on 65 minutes, following fine support play by the outstanding Wesley Sneijder, but the Argentina forward was reluctant to take all the credit for the San Siro victory. "I am very happy to have scored and pleased that we won the game, but we didn't win because of me, we won because of a great team performance," said the 30-year-old. "I just want to say a big 'thank you' to my team-mates; it's an honour to play with them."

CSKA succeeded in frustrating José Mourinho's Serie A leaders in a tight first half. After the break the hosts dominated and but for the heroics of visiting goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev – who denied Samuel Eto'o, Esteban Cambiasso and Dejan Stanković – would have been looking at a greater margin of victory. "It was a very hard match, very physical, but hopefully this win will help us get through. It's only a shame that we weren't able to convert more of the chances we created," continued Milito.

"My goal wasn't very easy because there wasn't much room to work with, but the ball fell to me nicely and fortunately I controlled it well and struck the shot nicely. We're delighted with the 1-0 win but now we must go to Moscow and play a huge match full of grit and determination."
 
Stanković concurred with Milito about Inter's second-half dominance. "We played a great game, particularly after the break and we must have had over 20 shots on goal," said the Serbian international, 31. "It's just disappointing that the result wasn't a more conclusive 2-0 or 3-0, but we are very confident. A performance like that gives you great belief in your capabilities and we must show the same approach in a week's time.

"This type of performance and this type of approach is a great morale booster for us. We're certainly not going to Moscow to sit back and defend this result for 90 minutes. We're going there to play our game. We know their strengths, their ability to break away and hit us on the counterattack but we're going there to win – which is the least you can expect from Inter."