Aiming to take a giant step towards Istanbul and inflict more misery on their local rivals, Inter Milan meet AC Milan in Wednesday's Champions League semi-final first leg at San Siro.

Simone Inzaghi's side, who will take to their home turf as the 'visiting' side this week, placed second in the group of death with Bayern Munich, Barcelona and Viktoria Plzen prior to a gritty 1-0 aggregate win over Porto in the last 16 of this year's tournament.

Despite a downturn in Serie A fortunes, Inter managed to inflict more quarter-final heartache on Benfica with a 5-3 triumph over two legs last month, entering the rare territory of the Champions League semi-finals in the process.

Here, Sports Mole takes a closer look at the Nerazzurri's record at this stage of Europe's premier tournament ahead of the latest instalment of the Milan derby.

In spite of their long and rich history, Inter have only progressed to the semi-finals of the European Cup/Champions League on nine occasions - including the 2022-23 tournament - placing them outside of the top five teams in that statistical category.

Nine appearances in the final four is only the third-best of all Italian teams too, as upcoming opponents Milan lead the way for their Calcio counterparts with 13, while Juventus have also punched a ticket to the semis on 12 occasions.

However, from Inter's previous eight appearances in the European Cup/Champions League semis, the Nerazzurri have managed to come out on top in five of them, while going all the way to continental glory on three separate occasions.

Incredibly, each of Inter's first six European Cup tournaments ended with the Italian giants getting at least as far as the semis, starting with the 1963-64 and 1964-65 editions, where they would ultimately clinch back-to-back European Cup titles with victories over Real Madrid and Benfica in the respective finals.

One year later, the reigning champions would again seal a place in the semi-finals, but Real Madrid gleaned a slice of revenge of their 1964 final defeat with a 2-1 aggregate victory, before Inter forced their way through to the 1967 final, where they would go down to Celtic.

A mini-European hiatus would follow for the Nerazzurri, but upon Inter's return to the European Cup in 1971-72, they would advance to the semi-finals once more - giving Celtic a taste of their own medicine by winning on penalties before experiencing final heartbreak at the hands of Ajax.

Inter would not take to the European Cup stage for another nine years until 1980-81, where their astonishing run of consecutive semi-final qualifications stretched to six editions, although that one ended in defeat to Real Madrid.

Since the inception of the Champions League as it is known today, Inter have only managed to reach the final four on two occasions - firstly in 2002-03, where they controversially lost to San Siro sharers Milan on 'away goals' after a 1-1 draw over two legs - the Nerazzurri certainly need no added incentive for revenge 20 years later.

To date, Inter's only semi-final triumph in the current Champions League came against Barcelona in 2009-10, edging the two-legged encounter 3-2 on aggregate before two-goal hero Diego Milito and co sunk Bayern in the final to complete a historic treble for Jose Mourinho's charges.

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