Inter Milan narrowly beat Sporting Madrid 1-0 at home in the first leg of the UEFA Europa League Round of 16 in a sold-out stadium with 73,000 fans witnessing the victory. The victory brought the Blue and Blacks a whopping €9.21 million (HK$78 million) in gate receipts, setting a new record for the team's single-game gate receipts, second only to the last UEFA Europa League quarterfinals second-round match against AC Milan.
Inter Milan have been on a roll lately, with excellent results in both Serie A and the UEFA Europa League, topping the league standings, nine points ahead of second-place Juventus, and with one game less to play. In the UEFA Europa League, their defense has been particularly solid, with four shutouts in seven matches in this tournament.
According to statistics, in the knockout stage of the European tournament, there were 17 times when Inter was leading by one goal in the first round at home, and 15 times they finally succeeded in advancing, with a success rate as high as 88%. In this year's tournament, Inter's chances of making it to the last eight are extremely high, and the future looks bright.
