Inter Milan midfielder Davide Frattesi paid tribute to his late grandmother after scoring the winning goal for the Italian side against Bayern Munich. Inter claimed a 2-1 win in Bavaria in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final thanks to Frattesi’s late strike.
Lautaro Martinez’s clever finish from Marcus Thuram’s back-heel put the away side 1-0 up, but veteran forward Thomas Muller levelled for Bayern with five minutes remaining. Inter then sprang the perfect counter-attack, with Carlos Augusto crossing from the left-hand side for Frattesi to score a dramatic winner.
The midfielder celebrated by ripping off his shirt and sprinting to the corner flag with passion etched all over his face. It was his sixth goal of the season for Inter, but by far the most important – and, speaking afterwards, he explained why it carried even more significance after his grandmother died the day before.
“In my life, I’ve always thought that my best quality was my mindset. I found myself in a situation where I couldn’t continue on my usual path,” Frattesi told Inter TV.
“I was very close to my grandmother and wasn’t used to seeing her like that. It was tough, but I know that she’s involved somehow tonight. Maybe she’s cheering me on from up there.”
The 25-year-old also posted a snap of him celebrating with his shirt off on Instagram, writing: “I know you got a couple of screams up there, my dear. I want to thank everyone for the affection these days, you made me feel like one of you for real. Come on Inter.”
Inter have built their Champions League run on their rock-solid defence, which has conceded just three goals in 11 games. They host Bayern in the second leg next Wednesday, with a tie against the winner of Barcelona vs Borussia Dortmund waiting in the semi-finals.
“We’ll try to attack even more, and we need to attack well when we manage to recover possession, like we did for the second goal this evening,” Frattesi added. “We’ll need to play well and be ruthless.”
Bayern manager Vincent Kompany tried to keep a positive outlook, despite the disappointment of the first leg. “It’s half-time, it’s 2-1 for Inter and we need to go to Milan to win,” he said. “We have lost and we had our chances in both halves but the results are not always fair.”
“If you see how many chances we had against a defensive-minded Inter. Normally if we get these chances we score two or three goals. We still fully believe in our chances in Milan.”
Inter boss Simone Inzaghi said: “We went toe to toe with them in determination, courage and aggression. We did something remarkable, but it won’t matter unless we do it in the second leg at San Siro in front of our fans too.”
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