Massive win for Inter tonight at home over Lille in the Champions League. With the win, Inter are now four points clear at the top of Group B and are on course to grab the all-important first place seeding in the knockout stage.
Walter Samuel, who was brilliant tonight, put Inter ahead in the first half, and all three points appeared to be wrapped up when Diego Milito scored early in the second half.
But one thing we have learnt about this Inter side is that they never do anything the easy way, and it was a nervy final minutes when a defensive mix-up gifted Tulio De Melo a late Lille goal.
What a difference having Walter Samuel back in the heart of the Inter defence makes. He was immense tonight and he makes everyone around him better defensively.
It was a very strange game for Diego Milito, that sort of summed up the last 18 months for hi. In the second minute he almost scored when his great run beat the offside trap and he lifted the ball over the outrushing frame of Mickael Landreau, only to see it rebound off the crossbar. That sort of bad luck has summed up Milito all season.
Then after disappearing for the rest of the first half, Milito then missed a sitter to start the second. A perfectly-worked set play on 48 minutes led to both Lucio and Dejan Stankovic being unmarked for Wesley Sneijder’s free-kick from the left. Stankovic selflessly headed it down and square into the path of an similarly unmarked Milito, who somehow volleyed over when it looked easier to score than miss.
How many easy chances have we seen Milito miss since the Champions League final?
But then he redeemed himself in the 65th minute when he turned in Zanetti’s cross to give Inter a two goal advantage. It was a scorers goal, and if we can get more of that from Milito in the coming weeks, and less of the misses, there is no reason why Inter cannot turn their Champions League form into wins in Serie A.
One note on the match. Inter’s line-up tonight broke the record for the oldest average squad age in Champions League history. So much for a youth revolution!
