Under strength Nerrazzuri thrash under strength Blucherratti; 3-0 at the San Siro.
San Siro on a wet Wednesday. The Stadio Guiseppe Meazza hosted a tenth place Sampdoria with Inter Milan looking to go top of Serie a with a win and other result going their way; not a large crowd but they were pretty vocal.
Mancini; without Maicon; suspended; picked an attacking side; Cesar stayed in goal with a South American back four of Zanetti, Samuel, Cordoba and Cesar; Figo and Cambiaso played wide with Dacourt and Maxwell in the middle, goal machine, Ibrahimovic partnered Crespo up front.
Matzarri, without Volpe and Montella still didn’t start Cassano; Mirante; ex Juve ‘keeper was protected by a back three of Campagnaro, Sala and Lucchini, a midfield five of Zenoni and Ziegler on the flanks with Palombo and Franceschini in the middle, Sammarco played a more forward role; up front Carracciolo partnered Bellucci.
A scrappy first twenty minutes saw neither team really dominate, Inter were solid at the back but couldn’t quite find their rhythm, Sampdoria had no final ball and could barely make it out of midfield; Figo was the brightest of the home team and Campagnaro had a chance at one end and played solidly at the other.
The best chance of the first part of the game fell to Sampdoria, an Inter free kick was cleared up field quickly, Carracciolo gets onto it on the left and Cesar comes out only to rethink his decision and back pedal towards his goal as the ball gets put into the danger area, no one from the visitors is in a position to capitalize on the empty goal.
In the words of the commentator; “JULIO CESAR, SOME QUESTION MARKS ON HIS KEEPING, HE WENT CHASING BUTTERFLIES ON THAT OCCASION, JUST COMPLETELY FOUND HIMSELF OUT OF POSITION”
The scare must have shocked Inter, they start to dominate the game, keeping the ball in midfield and looking for good balls on the flanks or through the middle; Zenoni has a good cross cleared; Figo feeds Zanetti who forces a corner; Ziegler, Palombo combine to set up Sammarco but his shot is a yard wide; Maxwell and Cesar carve open Sampdoria on the left; then comes the break through, Maxwell lets a ball from Crespo cross his body and the big Swede drives towards goal and cuts the ball back across Mirante for a great finish and the lead.
Cambiaso plays a ball into Crespo, almost a goal made in Argentina but the forwards back heel is too soft and Mirante claims; Cesar again combines with Maxwell and the ball is fired into the near post, Crespo is onto it but Mirante saves well; despite pressure from Crespo and the flying feet of Campagnaro.
Towards the end of the half Inter turn the screw, keeping possession and defended well from a lacklustre Sampdoria side.
Ibrahimovic drifts wide and plays the ball back inside for Dacourt, he delivers a great ball for Cesar who shots across Mirante, it flies past the far post; Mirante picks a ball destined for Crespo out of the air and Zanetti waste the chance to deliver a good cross into the box.
Ibrahimovic is a class act and alongside Samuel has been Inter’s best player, all of the home side has turned up tonight though.
No half time changes.
A bright start for both teams but Inter have the class and talent to pull it off; Crespo playing in Cesar in the area and almost getting a cheeky back heel in return; Sammarco can’t get to a back post cross.
The rain doesn’t really seem to be affecting play too much, the odd slip here and there but nothing major.
Ibrahimovic shows his control and finishing as he gets the ball on the edge of the D; he out muscles Palombo then cuts through two more defenders and rifles a left foot shot past Mirante for his second of the night.
For a whole the Sampdoria back line is all sixes and sevens; Inter don’t manage to take advantage.
Cassano finally comes on in and has an immediate impact; drawing a foul from his good buddy Dacourt; the youngster gives Sampdoria options when going forward.
Samuel; excellent all night; stops Carracciolo dead with a great tackle.
Maxwell plays in Crespo with a telling ball from the right; the Argentinean side foots it his Portuguese team mate who fires one past a flailing Mirante; the defence was poor as was the keeping but the finish was still on target.
As the game wound down Inter dominated, Sampdoria wee mostly toothless up front and Cesar didn’t have a save to make all night; although he can thank the post for keeping Campagnaro’s header out.
Without Ibrahimovic Inter didn’t look quite as good.
A well needed result for Mancini against his former team; the side took a while to get going but once they did they easily handled a lacklustre Sampdoria side. Figo showed he still has some great balls despite losing a little pace, Cambiaso, Maxwell and Dacourt were great both ways in midfield, Crespo worked hard and did a lot of useful running; Cesar and Zanetti worked well on the flanks and Samuel was excellent alongside the mistake free Cordoba, Cesar had one terrible error, but got away with it and had practically nothing to do all night.
Sampdoria were under strength but they still got it handed to them. Cassano was obviously classier than most of his team mates when he came on, Ziegler did well despite a frustrating night against the veteran Argentinean and Campagnaro was good at the back.
The referee had a pretty good one tonight, his two cards were reasonable and he let the game flow, sometimes almost too much as he had a bad spot towards the end of the second half where he made a few bloopers, nothing major though.
Inter####onale:-
Cesar
Zanetti
Cordoba
Samuel
Cesar
Figo (Suazo 83)
Dacourt
Maxwell
Cambiaso
Crespo (Pele 75)
Ibrahimovic (Adriano 63)
