Romelu Lukaku helps Inter Milan see off Bayer Leverkusen in Europa quarter-final tie

Inter Milan are through to the Europa League semi-finals as goals from Nicolo Barella and Romelu Lukaku helped them ease past a Bayer Leverkusen side at the Dusseldorf Arena.

Chelsea‘s target and promising young talent, Kai Havertz, gave the German side a bit of hope as he pulled one goal back for Leverkusen three minutes after Lukaku doubled Inter’s advantage but it was not enough as Antonio Conte’s side booked their place in the last four in Germany.

It could prove as Kai’s final game for the German outfit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkiZ3xDzKiE

Inter, however, was denied penalties on two separate occasions by the VAR but those decisions proved inconsequential as another promising season for Leverkusen to secure European glory ended with disappointment.

Inter will next face the winners of Tuesday’s encounter between Shakhtar Donetsk and Basel for a place in the final which will take place on August 21.

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Lukaku, however, set a record to becomes the first player to ever score in nine Uefa Cup or Europa League matches in a row, a run that includes five games for Everton in 2014-15.

He would have scored a hattrick as he twice prepared to take a penalty in the first half and in injury time but the video assistant referee overturned the decision to award the penalty on both occasions.

The Italian side could have beaten Leverkusen by more with Lukaku and former Premier League players, Christian Eriksen, Alexis Sanchez and Victor Moses all forcing Leverkusen’s goalie, Lukas Hradecky into a good save.

“We are growing but we have to learn to kill games off when we have the chances to do it, and we didn’t tonight,” said Lukaku, who is now Inter’s top scorer in a season since Samuel Eto’o in 2010-11.

“Now we have time to recover physically and prepare for another great game. We will have to be ready.”

Inter are now close to winning their first trophy since the Coppa Italia in 2011, and are only two games away from doing so.

Antonio Conte whose job was under scrutiny according to reports now looks on course to achieve a mean feat for the Nerazzurri’s as eight managers have failed to lead them to silverware in between Leonardo and Conte, who took charge last summer.

Stats and facts from the match (Backed by Opta)

• Inter Milan have reached their first European semi-final since 2009/10 in the Champions League, while this is the eighth time they have reached the semi-final of the UEFA Cup/Europa League – the most of any side.
• Inter Milan are the first Italian team to reach the semi-finals of the Europa League since 2014/15 (Napoli and Fiorentina), while two of the four Italian teams to do so in the competition have been managed by Antonio Conte (also Juventus in 2013/14).
• Inter Milan’s Ashley Young made his 50th appearance in major European competitions (excl. qualifiers), while he’s finished on the winning side in exactly half of those games (25/50).