Defeated, but still alive in the tie, Atlético left San Siro penalized for an error in the final stretch of the match. Reinildo made a bad delivery and Inter did not waste it. It usually happens when you step foot in any Italian stadium. The goal reflected what the game was like for many phases. A duel to see who would make a lethal concession. Atlético did it and lost. Punished for that failure, he will need to overcome Arnautovic’s goal at the Metropolitano once morest a team that plays better when it can run than when it is forced to think.
1
Sommer, Alessandro Bastoni, de Vrij, Benjamin Pavard, Darmian (Denzel Dumfries, min. 69), Mkhitaryan (Davide Frattesi, min. 72), Calhanoglu, Dimarco (Carlos Augusto, min. 69), Barella, Lautaro Martínez (Alexis, min. 88) and Marcus Thuram (Arnautovic, min. 45)
0
Oblak, Witsel, Giménez (Savic, min. 45), Mario Hermoso (Reinildo Mandava, min. 68), Samuel Lino, Koke, Saúl (Morata, min. 54), De Paul, Nahuel Molina (Pablo Barrios Rivas, min. 68), Griezmann (Correa, min. 77) and Marcos Llorente
Goals 1-0 min. 78: Arnautovic.
Referee István Kovács
Yellow cards Mario Hermoso (min. 53), Savic (min. 81), Morata (min. 84), Davide Frattesi (min. 86), Koke (min. 92) and Carlos Augusto (min. 94)
The Milan Coliseum was a cauldron in which Simeone’s team competed and played with the clock and the scoreboard in mind. He lacked shrapnel to take advantage of the moments in which he distressed Inter. Inzaghi’s team emerged winners of a match in which neither team dared to deploy to deal a definitive blow to the tie.
Simeone did not make as much money as he had let fall in the test he did on Monday. He did not pull Reinildo in the left lane and gave flight to Lino, although he did maintain the bet of Marcos Llorente as Griezmann’s partner. Of course, Atlético was not short on cement either. Up to five pivots might be counted in the lineup, including Witsel and Llorente. It was the Belgian who supported his team in Inter’s initial fireworks and throughout the first act. He swept his own and that of the others to stop Inzaghi’s team’s attempt to pin Atlético in their area. He planted Thuram and Lautaro in the crescent on Oblak’s first serves and forced the Slovenian goalkeeper to play long.
Nor did the ball flow to Simeone’s players in their first attempts to come out playing from behind. He pushed San Siro and only found calm with two Lino internships. In the second he drew a thread that lacked adjustment, but it served to start that more tactical match. With neither team willing to reveal themselves more than necessary. Both had prolonged sequences of bad passes. The game used to die in the immediate vicinity of the areas. Sharp and precise feet were missing on both sides of the field.
More union than finesse, Atlético managed to disconnect Inter’s virtuous trio of midfielders from the game. Barella, who is usually their great agitator, might not find spaces or internal passes. Nor did Mkhitaryan see spaces to reach and cut through the area. Çalhanoglou was neat. The inactivity of Di Marco, a habitual tunneler of Inter’s offensive football, was more surprising. On the few occasions in which he played and was able to play, he accused the absence of a purer striker than Llorente. This one goes well upwards from the face, but not from the back. There was no tall finisher to practice lateral crosses either.
With the restraint adopted by the two teams, both expecting who was making a mistake, the first shot between the three sticks did not arrive until following the first half hour. It was a header from Lautaro centered on Barella’s center that Oblak pocketed without problems. Atlético might have come out worse from this play on the opponent’s mistake when De Paul gave Thuram the ball with no one behind the Frenchman. They had to rectify the Argentine first Witsel and then Giménez to prevent Lautaro from holing out. A tame shot from Thuram was Inter’s last volley before the intermission. Giménez was left in the dugout, replaced by Savic, and also Thuram, replaced by Arnautovic.
The second act was more eventful. Arnautovic himself arrived very forced to a low center with a lot of hemlock from Barella. There was another pace and more room to run. Simeone appreciated it and made a threatening change. He sat Saúl, who ran a lot and played fearfully with the ball to make room for Morata. From that more aggressive team, Lino first had a chance following a one-two with De Paul. This one also linked a yours of mine with Griezmann before making Llorente run so that he was very forced to face Sommer. Between the Swiss goalkeeper and De Vrij they avoided the goal. They were Atlético’s most authoritarian moments.
Simeone’s players did not achieve that good moment and Inter became emboldened in the final stretch. Simeone was forced to do without Hermoso and Griezmann. Lautaro left half a goal for Arnuatovic, but he mis-impaled the shot. Lautaro himself demanded Oblak with a header. Boxed in, Atlético was a victim of that game of errors that had dominated the first half. Reinildo lost the ball to Fratesi and he left Lautaro one-on-one with Oblak. The Slovenian blocked that first shot, but Aranautovic finished it into an empty goal to give Inter the advantage in the first round.
