During Jose Mourinho’s first season as manager of Inter, the team had gotten off to a fantastic start, winning thirteen matches through the midway point, losing only twice.
With a proven track record of success with each team he had managed, Mourinho came in with the expectation to lead the club to champions’ league success after a series of early knockout round exits with Roberto Mancini.
The star-studded Nerazzurri side had won three consecutive Serie A titles and was poised to win yet again with stars such as Adriano, Crespo joining the likes of Zanetti, Materazzi, Figo, Stankovic, Vieira, Ibrahimovic, and Cambiasso.
For their round six match at San Siro, the reigning champions were preparing to take on a struggling Bologna side under the management of Daniele Arrigoni.
The visitors had gone winless in four games leading up to the game in Milan, where they shocked the Rossoneri in the season opener with a 2-1 win at San Siro.
Bologna’s biggest struggles were on offense, as they had failed to score any goals after their surprise win against AC Milan in round one.
However, on defense they had been tough against all oppositions, allowing only one goal per game on average.
The Nerazzurri starting eleven for this match was Julio Cesar, Ivan Cordoba, Javier Zanetti, Maicon, Nelson Rivas, Sulley Muntari, Mancini, Patrick Vieira, Adriano, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Ricardo Quaresma.
For Bologna, starting eleven were Francesco Antonioli, Vangelis Moras, Claudio Terzi, Gaby Mudingayi, Sergio Volpi, Davide Bombardini, Davide Marchini, Francesco Valiani, Christian Amoroso, Marco Di Vaio and Adailton.
The home side was by far the more confident of the two sides after consecutive wins to start the season while the visitors were primarily on the backfoot, disciplined on defense, and only going forward on counter-attack opportunities.
Marco Di Vaio provided the only goal-scoring threat for Bologna, however for most of the game he was left isolated in attack.
Seeing Bologna defending deep with everyone behind the ball, Mourinho side attacked and overloaded the wings heavily not only with Ibrahimovic, Adriano, and Quaresma but also including Maicon into the mix, allowing Quaresma to cut inside.
Mancini and Muntar provided defensive cover which allowed Patrick Vieira to also join the attack to be an ariel threat inside the box.
Bologna defenders were not able to cope with the size and strength of Ibrahimovic and Adriano throughout the game as they kept switching positions, playing off each other very well and often drifting to the wings to provide width to the attack.
It seemed only a matter of time before the powerful dynamic duo would provide Inter the lead as Bologna had nothing going for them in the first half.
Midway through the first half, Inter took the lead following a cross from Adriano which Ibrahimovic brilliantly flicked past Antonioli with a back heel kick, going around the defender despite being well covered.
The brilliance of the goal was highlighted by the awareness from Ibrahimovic knowing he’s smothered by the defender behind his back, leaning in with a header to clear the ball. A truly world-class finish from an in form striker.
The second half was a continuation of the first, trickery from Ibrahimovic and overpowering runs and movement from Adriano left the visitors clueless.
Before long, Inter were awarded a penalty around fifty-second minute when Adriano’s cross intended for Ibrahimovic was handled inside the box. Adriano comfortably converted the penalty, giving Inter a seemingly insurmountable 2-0 lead.
Bologna managed to pull one back around the fifty-eight-minute mark, when a cross to the center of the box, took a wicked rebound off of Zanetti, giving Vangelis Moras an open shot on goal.
The visitors came within 1 goal of tying the match, however, the quality of the Nerazzurri side was too much for them to match and the game ended with a 2-1 scoreline giving Inter their fourth win of the season taking them into third place in the league standing.
