New Delhi: Adriano scored the only goal of the game at San Siro as Jose Mourinho's men edged past overachieving Cypriots, Anorthosis Famagusta.
Inter Milan 1-0 Anorthosis Famagusta
It was a fairly subdued affair in Italy as Inter, fresh off the back of a devastating 4-0 thrashing of Roma on Sunday, did not impress in the first half until successive crosses from Zlatan Ibrahimovic then Maicon gave Adriano the simplest of headers from close range just before the break.
In the second period, the Nerazzurri dominated the game but continued to be frustrated by a stubborn Anorthosis side. Mourinho will have no doubt been frustrated at the chances squandered, but the visitors never truly threatened and the game ended 1-0, displacing Anorthosis at the top of the table and putting the Special One's side in control.
First half
The opening minutes saw rather uninspired play from both sides. Inter showed the Anorthosis defense little respect as they rained long balls in behind the visitors' back line. Inter did well to send the ball to their forwards with plenty of space while avoiding being called offside, but their early efforts rarely amounted to more than an off-target, speculative shot from outside the penalty area.
Anorthosis tried to take the pressure off their defense by breaking through on the counterattack, but had very little success aside from forcing Inter to hold both of their centre backs from moving forward.
Before Inter reached full stride, Anorthosis challenged enough to force Inter keeper Francesco Toldo into a save; Traianos Dellas' free kick after just four minutes was well-struck and went below the Inter wall, only to be stopped by the alert Toldo.
It didn't take long for Inter to find their bearings; in the 10th minute, the Italians had a sudden but gilt-edged opportunity on goal. Mancini cleanly fielded a cross on the left side of the penalty area, and laid off for Sulley Ali Muntari, whose first-touch effort was well saved by Arian Beqaj.
As time wore on, Inter began to fully control the match. In the first half, the Italians won possession by a margin of greater than 2:1, and held their opponents to just four shots.
In light of the rather benign play from Anorthosis, Inter set up camp in front of the visitors' goal, and it was only a matter of time before the home side scored the opener.
PAGE_BREAK
The opener finally came for Inter in the 44th minute. With the Anorthosis defense stacked on their right side, Zlatan Ibrahimovic sent a cross to Maicon on the attacking right side. The Brazliian international cut to his left, beating Jeffrey Leiwakabessy, and crossed to the wide-open Adriano, who headed hope at the far post.
The first half ended with Inter having earned a well-deserved lead.
Second half
Being behind by just one goal, Anorthosis started the second half with intent to score a sudden equalizer. What was by far their best opportunity of the match came just a minute after the break. Savio sent a free kick from the right towards centre-back Nicos Katsavakis, who was poorly marked as he sent his header over the cross bar.
After Anorthosis' momentary threat, Inter continued their dominance of the match, denying the visitors any shots from inside the penalty area for the remainder of the match.
On the offensive end, Inter's otherwise dominant performance was marred by their unimpressive finishing.
In the 49th minute, Muntari had another opportunity to score, but his open header from close range failed to put his team ahead 2-0 as the ball sailed over the crossbar.
Inter’s offensive woes continued as Ibrahimovic’ effort on 68 minutes basically summed up the Swede’s performance on the day. Adriano played Ibrahimovic through, only to see the former Ajax striker dribble himself into a poor position with a tough angle wherefrom to shoot. His shot from the left beat Beqaj, but missed wide of the far post.
As the match drew towards a close, Anorthosis overcommitted themselves on the offensive end, leaving acres of space, especially on Inter’s attacking left side. And yet, in spite of their many opportunities, Inter failed to score again. In fact, Julio Cruz’ off-target drive in the 89th minute was Inter’s only real opportunity over the last 15 minutes of the match.
In the end, 1-0 was the right result. Inter won possession by 64-36% and held the visitors to just three shots inside the penalty area, and had enough in them to finish one chance. With the group stage half-way finished, Inter lead Group B on 7 points, while Anorthosis remain second with 4.
Inter 1-0 Anorthosis
1-0 Adriano (44)
Yellow Cards: Katsavakis (62)
Inter Milan: Toldo - Zanetti, Chivu, Cordoba, Maicon - Stankovic, Cambiasso (Burdisso, 83), Muntar - Mancini (Quaresma, 63), Ibrahimovic, Adriano (Cruz, 82)
Anorthosis: Beqaj - Leiwakabessy, Constantinou, Katsavakis, Ocokoljic - Laban, Dellas, Savio, Dobrasinovic (Frousos, 88), Bardon (Tsitaishvili, 75) - Sosin (Mohammed, 46)
More from Goal.comCalcio debate: Beckham to Milan – Good or Bad idea?Special - Why Diaby is testament to Wenger's exceptional coachingI-League preview: Round FiveGovernor's Gold Cup: A final before Saturday
Comments
0 comment