Inter did their homework against Udinese (3-1) and consolidated their second place in Serie A before hosting Porto on Wednesday in the round of 16 (first leg) of the Champions League. With Napoli heading towards the ‘scudetto’ by having a 15-point advantage, the ‘nerazzurri’ continue to take three from Milan, who caught up with them before the game with their win at Monza (0-1) .
Simone Inzaghi rested almost half of the team with a goal in Porto’s visit. Despite the fact that André Onana, Stefan de Vrij, Milan Skriniar, Hakan Çalhanoglu and Lautaro Martínez followed the game from the bench, their teammates got off to a good start and quickly moved up the scoreboard.
Lukaku missed the penalty and then converted it
This was thanks to a penalty committed by Wallace on Denzel Dumfries, indicated at the request of VAR. Romelu Lukaku’s shot was missed by goalkeeper Marco Silvestri, but the referee ordered it to be replayed when an Udinese player entered the area early and the Belgian striker made no mistake with his second attempt, ending a scoring drought on October 13 .August on the first matchday of Serie A. It was his second league goal and third of the season.
In the first half the game was very tense at times, with friction and tackles on the limit, but no football in places. Inter did not need to fancy themselves to maintain control, but before the break they were surprised by the first arrival of Udinese, who did not even threaten and equalized out of nowhere.
Udinese draw by surprise
Kingsley Ehizibue’s recovery allowed Andrea Sottil’s team to mount a very quick move that got the local defense in a bad position, Roberto Pereyra found Sandi Lovric, who shot past a Samir Handanovic who again played for the first time since October 1.
Inter tried to regain control of the scoreboard after the break but, seeing their attack unable to find the formula, Inzaghi brought on Hakan Çalhanoglu and Lautaro Martínez.
The party went haywire. Within minutes, Silvestri saved his side with shots from Henrykh Mkhitaryan and Edin Dzeko, but recent arrival Isaac Success also had a clear chance to frustrate Dumfries in front of goal.
Mkhitaryan and Lautaro sentence
Inter’s counterattack was deadly when Federico Dimarco cut in from the left and Mkhitaryan nailed the ball into the net with a quality shot with his right foot (72′).
From there to the end the game offers little else. Lautaro Martínez missed a called goal after running away alone but he was poked too hard and the ball went up. The Argentine redeemed himself seconds later by shooting home to make it 3-1 with Alessandro Bastoni’s through ball.
Lautaro found the goal again, after missing the goal the previous day in the visit to Sampdoria (0-0) and ended an Udinese that surprised the first stage of the championship by reaching the top positions, but without the injured Gerard Deulofeu , failed to break a terrible winning streak in the last 15 days.
Inter
31
uDINESE
Inter: Handanovic; Darmian (D’Ambrosio, 46′), Acerbi, Bastoni; Dumfries, Barella, Brozovic (Lautaro Martínez, 66′), Mkhitaryan (Gagliardini, 84′), Dimarco (Gosens, 79′); Lukaku (Çalhanoglu, 66′), Dzeko
The
Udinese: Silvestri; Becão, Bijol, Ebosse (Masina, 18′); Ehizibue, Roberto Pereyra (Samardzic, 76′), Walace, Lovric (Arslan, 75′), Udogie; Thauvin (Victory, 61′), Beto (Ebosele, 76′)
The
Goals: 1-0 Lukaku (pen.) (20′), 1-1 Lovric (43′), 2-1 Mkhitaryan (73′), 3-1 Lautaro Martínez (89′)
Referee: Federico Dionisi. Yellow cards to Masina (22′), Lukaku (22′), Darmian (39′), Bijol (47′)
Spectators: 71,248 at San Siro
see the match sheet
Source: La Verdad
I’m Rose Herman and I work as an author for Today Times Live. My expertise lies in writing about sports, a passion of mine that has been with me since childhood. As part of my job, I provide comprehensive coverage on everything from football to tennis to golf.
