Ex-Manchester United trio reach Champions League semi-finals

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Three former Manchester United stars featured as Inter Milan reached the Champions League semi-finals last night.

The rise of the Italian teams has been one of the big stories in the Champions League this season. There are two Serie A sides in the semi-finals, and remarkably, none of them are runaway leaders Napoli.

AC Milan knocked Napoli out earlier this week, and now Inter Milan have joined them, thanks to the help of a former Manchester United trio.

Inter will face AC Milan in one semi-final, with Manchester City taking on Real Madrid in the other semi.

Inter reach semi-finals

Three former Manchester United players played key roles as Inter Milan beat Benfica over two legs. After winning 2-0 away in the first leg, they came through with a 3-3 draw at the San Siro to win 5-3 on aggregate.

Matteo Darmian was one third of the trio. Manchester United sold Darmian to Parma in 2019 for just £1.5 million, and within a year he had been snapped up by Inter.

Starting alongside Darmian in the line-up against Benfica was Henrikh Mkhitaryan. The Armenian is now 34-years-old and this feels like it may be his late career peak.

A Europa League winner with United in 2017, this is a huge chance for Mkhitaryan to reach the Champions League final.

United ditched Mkhitaryan in 2018 as part of an ill-fated swap with Alexis Sanchez, which did not work out well for either player. Sanchez ended up signing for Inter, and is now at Marseille, while Mkhitaryan left Jose Mourinho a second time when he departed Roma last summer for Inter.

Romelu Lukaku featured from the bench in Inter’s win. He scored a penalty in their first leg win. He is currently on loan from Chelsea.

The ex-United trio could go up against another former Red Devils star in the semi-final, if AC Milan choose to call on Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

The 41-year-old Swede has barely featured this season and was not on the bench against Napoli this week. But for a huge two-legged Milan derby Champions League semi-final and showdown with rival Lukaku, these are the type of occasions Zlatan is built for.