Frank de Boer will be due Mauro Icardi a pint or two after il capitano saved the day by scoring a late screamer on top of his first strike to win the Nerazzurri the game.
The early exchanges showed a lot of promise for Inter who had the lion share of possession and when dispossessed, they closed down swiftly and kept the pressure on Torino, disallowing them of any golden opportunities. Eder in particular was impressive at the start of the encounter with his pace proving a problem for Torino, who took him down a couple times to halt the speedy forward who was preferred to Perisic, a move most fans frowned upon pre-game.
Our lead, which came 35 minutes in was nothing less than what we deserved. Candreva slipped Icardi through and regardless if Joe Hart made an absolute hash of what was an easy save, Icardi’s determination to keep chasing it has to be admired and he was rewarded with a goal as Hart pushed the ball off of him to give Inter the lead.
In the first half there was very little to fault when looking at the midfield and attack. The defence on the other hand all made a mistake or two, none of which catastrophic barring Miranda’s dilly-dallying on the ball which ultimately forced him in to making a last ditch tackle (which resulted in a foul) on the very edge of the box. Asides from that, the good pressure as aforementioned was seen throughout the entirety of the first half.
Torino had a lot more of the ball at the start of the second half. Inter on the other hand had some nice passing moves all made capable by the fluid off the ball movement made in the Torino half.
Torino’s equaliser just after the hour mark was Inter defending at it’s utmost finest. Seconds after Brozovic missed two chances, Belotti stuck the ball in for the visitors up the other end with help from Inter’s defence self capitulating. Miranda initially failed to clear when not pressured then Ansaldi and Murillo ran head on into one another. Perhaps most astonishingly Nagatomo wasn’t involved in the circus performance.
Inter had plenty chances to re-take the lead but time and time again they somehow managed to miss from yards out and it was beginning to look like it was just going to be one of those nights in front of goal.
With just minutes on the clock to spare, Mauro Icardi (who else?) popped up and saved the day. Having shielded the ball, Icardi was able to gain just enough space to rifle the ball in to the top corner, giving Hart absolutely zero chance and Inter a vital three points..
Inter deserved the win undoubtedly, could it have been by a bigger margin, absolutely but it was well worth waiting until the dying embers and losing all hope for Icardi to smash it home top corner and send the Nerazzurri faithful crazy. If he needed a way to get almost back entirely on the side of the fans, that was most certainly the way to do so. Defensive meltdown aside, it was a good, solid performance from the rest of Inter, which if kept up will only mean good things going forward.
