Ismael Bennacer wants AC Milan to use painful Inter loss as fuel for Champions League push

AC Milan midfielder Ismael Bennacer says the club will use the hurt of last season’s Uefa Champions League semi-final exit to fuel their bid to go all the way this campaign.

The Serie A side, seven-time European Cup winners, reached the last four of the 2022/23 tournament, but were beaten 3-0 on aggregate in May by city rivals Inter Milan.

Milan, who qualified for last season’s Champions League by winning a first Scudetto in 11 years the previous year, last lifted Europe’s premier club trophy in 2007.

This season, Milan sit third in an incredibly tight Group F with two matches remaining, one point off second-placed Paris Saint-Germain and two back from leaders Borussia Dortmund. Newcastle United, meanwhile, lie bottom, although only three points off the summit.

Milan round off the group against Dortmund, at home on November 29, and Newcastle, away, two weeks later.

Speaking on Monday in Dubai at an event to mark the opening of Casa Milan Dubai, the club’s new base in the emirate, Bennacer told The National: “First, you play to win the Champions League, not playing just to be in the Champions League.

“Then, when you have the taste of the Champions League semi-final, you want to go higher, to do better. And that’s why we will try this year.

“Because as I said, we’re not just here to be here in the group and that’s it, or quarter-final and that’s it. No, we want to win it. But, as we saw, a lot of teams will have a chance to win it.”

Bennacer, 25, has not featured for Milan this season following surgery on a knee injury sustained early in the first leg of the semi-final with Inter, on May 10.

The Algeria international has been an integral component of Stefano Pioli’s team since moving to San Siro from Empoli in 2019,