Spanish coach Rafael Benitez praised the spirit of his side after Inter swept aside Asian champions Seongnam Ilhwa 3-0 on Wednesday to advance to tomorrow’s Club World Cup final.
The victory eased some pressure off Benitez, who is believed to need to win the tournament to retain his job. Inter have weathered a number of injuries and a loss of form to drop to seventh in the Serie A standings, 13 points behind leaders Milan.
Inter will face African champions TP Mazembe in tomorrow’s final.
“It’s been a difficult time with a lot of players coming back from injuries,” Benitez said. “I could see from the first minute, everyone was concentrating, focused. From the beginning to the end, we were trying to win, trying to score and doing our job.”
The only setback for Inter was the injury to midfielder Wesley Sneidjer, who limped off in the opening minutes after a rough tackle. Benitez said he doubts that Sneidjer will play tomorrow.
Ahead of the tournament, the Italian media had said a loss for Inter could cost Benitez his job despite only having joined in the offseason on a two-year deal. The Spaniard has struggled to live up to the achievements of predecessor Jose Mourinho, whose team claimed the Champions League in a treble of titles last season and is now with Real Madrid.
But Benitez hasn’t been flustered by the speculation over his future. On Wednesday, he remained as upbeat as he has all season.
“After 25 years as a coach, eight trophies, five finals and two promotions, I know football can be like this,” he said of the criticism. “I have confidence in myself, in my staff. The only thing I can do is keep working, don’t read the press and hopefully I will enjoy the final.”
The team that took the pitch on Wednesday was much improved due to several stars returning from injury, including Milito, defender Cristian Chivu and Cesar.
“It wasn’t easy to play against this team,” Chivu said. “We did what we had to do and scored after three minutes. We had moments where we delivered and then we closed it with the second and third goal. As a team, we are happy that most of injured players have come back and certainly it changed everything.”