It was a night to remember for Inter’s keeper André Onana on Tuesday with Internazionale in the Champions League. His heroic performance meant his fifth clean sheet in the billion dollar ball.
Onana shines in Champions League: “He delivered an inspiring performance”
Onana kept his goal clean in the Champions League for the fifth time this year and is equal to Simon Mignolet. Ederson (Manchester City) and Diogo Costa (FC Porto) followed with four clean sheets. In Portugal he not only stood out with five saves, but he was also strong on the ball, as witnessed by his twelve long balls. Sofascore calculated that Onana had an expected number of goals conceded of 2.55 in Estádio do Dragão, the highest value that did not result in a goal in the current Champions League season.
The feat of the evening was a feline reflex with which he prevented the diptych with Porto from ending in extra time in the final phase. A header from Mehdi Taremi pushed the former Ajax player against the post. “We are happy that we made it,” Onana himself told InterTV afterwards. “It wasn’t easy, we knew it was going to be difficult. We showed character and showed that we are a great team against a great opponent. We must give credit to our defense.”
Inter went down against Spezia in Serie A last Friday. The fiercely criticized Samir Handanovic then defended the goal of the Nerazzurri. Four days later, Onana showed why he is generally favored with his fifth clean sheet in this Champions League campaign. With almost every Italian, the Cameroonian gets an 8 for his performance and he belongs to the absolute stars. “Onana delivered a stirring performance,” noted former striker Peter Crouch at BT Sport.
A potential Milan derby in the quarter-finals
If it’s up to chairman Steven Zhang, we can get our chest wet for a city derby in the quarter-finals of the Champions League. He said: “Every team is strong, but when I look at the last seven years, the Milan derbies have given me so many emotions that I would like to play the derby with Milan.”
In the end, not Onana, but Hakan Calhanoglu was named man of the match. “I don’t know what to say, there are so many emotions, now we are proud. We did well today, we did something wrong,” the Turk told Sky. “Anything can happen in the Champions League, this move gives us motivation to get back up.”
“Goosebumps in the final phase due to the woodwork and super Onana,” headlines La Gazzetta dello Sport the day after Inter’s triumph. On Wednesday evening, Napoli can become the third Italian team to reach the quarter-finals of the Champions League. Only Juventus fell at an earlier stage.
