Inter trio focused on Milan derby after Cluj win

22-Feb-2013 3:08:00 PM

The Nerazzurri progressed to the last 16 of the Europa League and Wednesday and now have their sights firmly set on Sunday's clash with their fiercest rivals

Alvaro Pereira, Samir Handanovic and Fredy Guarin all looked ahead to the Milan derby following Inter's 3-0 second-leg win over CFR Cluj in the Europa League round of 32 on Thursday.

The Nerazzurri set up a repeat of their 2010-11 Champions League group-stage encounter with Tottenham after a double from the Colombian midfielder, as well as Marco Benassi's solitary strike, sent them into the last 16 of the competition.

And Pereira, a former Cluj player, was the first to express his delight with Inter's performance in Romania but insisted that the team's attentions are now firmly fixed on the upcoming derby clash with Serie A arch-rivals AC Milan.

"We played a great match. Now we must focus on the derby," the left-back told Inter Channel.

"The Cluj supporters? I'd like to thank them because they were always very good to me when I used to play here and they showed that again today.

Meanwhile, Samir Handanovic reviewed both his and Inter's display on the night, which included the goalkeeper pulling off a potentially-decisive stop on 68 minutes when his face took the full force of Ioan Hora's point-blank effort.

"It wasn't easy and the pitch didn't help, but we played well and we did it in the end. It was important to get through," the Slovenia international said to Mediaset Premium.

"Wonder saves? I just got a bit luckier today. We must now start to think about the derby, and although we're not having an easy time of it at the moment, you never know. Anything can happen."

And lastly Guarin, who scored twice to help seal his side's progression at the Dr. Constantin Radulescu, told Sky Sport Italia: "They were two big goals. We needed them, ahead of the derby too."