In the 2006-07 Serie A season, Inter got off to a flying start, after reinforcing the team with additions such as Ibrahimovic, Vieira and Crespo.
The Nerazzurri started the season with going undefeated for a stretch of thirty-one games. Heading into round seventeen match against Lazio at Stadio Olimpico, Roberto Mancini’s side had only conceded twice in the previous six games while outscoring their opponents by a score of 10-2.
The home side, Lazio had a rough start to their season, having won only seven games while tying four and losing five. Heading into their match against Inter, Biancocelesti had found their form at the right time having won four games out of their previous six which also included a 3-0 derby win against AS Roma.
Starting the match for the Nerazzurri were Julio Cesar in goal, with Maicon, Marco Materazzi, Nicolas Burdisso and Javier Zanetti in defence. Maxwell, Esteban Cambiasso, Patrick Vieira, Dejan Stankovic played in midfield behind striker duo Hernan Crespo and Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
For Delio Rossi and Lazio, the starting line-up was, Angelo Peruzzi, Massimo Oddo, Luciano Zauri, Sebastiano Siviglia, Emilson Cribari, Stefano Mauri, Cristian Ledesma, Gaby Mudingayi, Christian Manfredini, Goran Pandev and Stephan Makinwa.
Mancini instructed his side to dictate the flow of the match by retaining possession and build their attack around Ibrahimovic as the target man. This allowed the likes of Maicon, Stankovic and Cambiasso to make late runs into the box creating scoring opportunities.
Down the other end, Lazio defended with eleven men behind the ball and played strictly on the counter. Early on, Delio Rossi’s side restricted themselves to launching long-ball passes to Mankinwa with Pandev dropping deep to be the primary play maker.
This tactical battle, resulted in Mankinwa exploiting ample space left behind by Nerazzurri defenders to create chances, however Julio Cesar was in fantastic form and made number of acrobatic saves to retain the clean sheet.
Seeing Lazio double and often triple marking Ibrahimovic around the penalty box, Inter’s players were constantly moving around the big Swede to create passing lanes and scoring opportunities. Maicon consistently found space on the flanks and crossed the ball into the box for Crespo.
Ibrahimovic’s brilliant understanding of the game and superior quality was on full display as he was orchestrating a seemingly unstoppable offense, however the Nerazzurri were unable to capitalize on those chances.
Heading into the half-time, Inter broke the deadlock and took the lead thanks to a goal from Esteban Cambiasso. Cuchu created the opportunity by playing a brilliant through-ball to find Ibrahimovic inside the box. Zlatan dribbled past two players seeing Cambiasso free, he laid off the ball to Cuchu who comfortably scored Inter’s first goal of the night.
The game seemed completely in control of the visitors, however right before half-time Ibrahimovic got a second yellow card for kicking the ball in anger after being called offside. Referee Gianluca Rocchi’s shocking decision to give Zlatan a second yellow card, left the Nerazzurri a man down with entire second half to play.
Mancini stuck to his line-up with Crespo being the sole striker inside the box. As the second half got underway, the momentum had completely shifted in Lazio’s. The home side took control of the possession and pinned the Nerazzurri down in their own half.
With all 10-men behind the ball, the Biancocelesti weren’t able to create any chances through the middle of the pitch and relied on the heavy supply of crosses from the wings and long shots to score the tying goal. Julio Cesar continued to prove why he was one of the best goalkeepers in the world at the time and kept Inter ahead.
Crespo, despite being isolated in attack, was latching onto every cross, corner and long-ball from the Inter backline and midfield that came his way. Inter continued to threaten Lazio on the counter-attacks and long-range passes as the home side committed everyone forward to look for the equalizing goal.
As the game edged closer to full-time, Materazzi scored with a powerful header following a free-kick from Stankovic and the Nerazzurri increased their undefeated streak to seventeen games to start the season.
