Ex-Bayern Munich defender Benjamin Pavard scored against his former club to guide Inter Milan to a 2-2 draw with the German side on Wednesday, taking the Nerazzurri through to the Champions League semifinals 4-3 on aggregate. It was Pavard’s first goal for Inter, since the France international signed from Bayern in 2023. “There’s certainly a lot of emotions as it’s my first goal, moreover it’s at San Siro,” said Pavard, who last scored almost exactly two years ago to the day. “So there were a lot of emotions but I had to stay in the match, I couldn’t think of the goal, I had to remain focused.”
Martínez and Pavard Fire Back for Inter Milan
Harry Kane had brought the quarterfinal level at the start of the second half but Inter quickly reversed the game with Lautaro Martínez and Pavard goals on a windy evening in Milan. Eric Dier headed the equalizer on the evening, in the 76th minute, to arrange for a tense finish. Inter will play Barcelona in the semifinals. It defeated the same team in the final four in 2010 en route to Champions League victory and the treble under José Mourinho. Simone Inzaghi’s side are in with a chance to do it again this season.
PSG to Face Arsenal in Other Semifinal
The other semifinal match features Paris Saint-Germain vs. Arsenal, which defeated 2-1 at Real Madrid on Wednesday to qualify 5-1 on aggregate. Inter had shocked Bayern last week, defeating 2-1 to deal the German club its first home loss in the tournament in nearly four years. Bayern manager Vincent Kompany described having “some regrets” over the two matches, with his team failing to score several chances and thereby losing the chance of hoisting the Champions League trophy in their home stadium on May 31.
Vincent Kompany Reflects on Missed Opportunities
“The hard reality is that we’re not going to play the Champions League final at home,” Kompany said. “That’s the hard reality. We can’t change it. The other side is the performance side. We know we did enough to win these two games.” It was a wet and windy night at San Siro and the gusts caused some misplaced passes. The visitors had a few early opportunities, with Pavard charging down an effort by Michael Olise and Alessandro Bastoni timing a sliding tackle to perfection to also deny Olise, who had gone clear on goal. Inter managed to slow things down after the frantic start and began to have opportunities of its own.
Thrilling Action Leads to Goals Galore for Inter Milan and Bayern
Hakan Çalhanoglu came closest in the 33rd minute with one of his signature long-range efforts that whistled past the right-hand upright. There was alarm in the Inter zone soon after and Bayern’s first-leg scorer Thomas Müller had a shot deflected by Matteo Darmian and Leroy Sané had the rebound saved by Yann Sommer. But Bayern broke the deadlock ” and levelled the quarterfinal ” seven minutes into the second half. Inter were unable to clear a cross properly and the ball found its way through to Leon Goretzka, who played Kane in and the England forward steadied himself before shooting past Federico Dimarco and into the far bottom corner.
But Inter equalized just seven minutes later. Lautaro ” Inter’s all-time leading scorer in the competition ” miscontrolled a corner but was quickest to the ball and was able to bundle it into the bottom left corner. The World Cup winner with Argentina jumped onto the advertising hoardings in front of the Inter fans and stretched his arms out. There were even more ecstatic celebrations three minutes later when Pavard headed another corner. The Inter fans were in for a nervy last 14 minutes, though, as Serge Gnabry’s cross picked out Dier on the byline, and his header curiously curled into the far top corner from the closest of angles.
