Inter came out of the international break with an important 2-1 win over Cagliari today, with Motta and Coutinho providing the two Inter goals. The win took Inter ahead of Cagliari in the standings as at Nerazzurri moved into the top half of the table for the first time in ages.
Inter started brightly with Andrea Ranocchia heading just wide from a corner in the eighth minute. Giampaolo Pazzini came even closer to breaking the deadlock in the 21st minute when his shot from outside the penalty area was tipped onto the crossbar at full stretch by Michele Agazzi. Agazzi came to Cagliari’s rescue again three minutes later with a fingertip save to push Mauro Zarate’s free-kick onto the bar.
While the first half ended scoreless it was an encouraging performance by Inter, who were controlling the game and creating chances. So it was no surprise when Inter finally broke down the Cagliari defence when Motta received Ricardo Alvarez’s free-kick via a deflection off Pazzini and scored from close range.
Coutinho, who I thought was terrific today, made it 2-0 six minutes later. Alvarez was the provider again as he spread the play from the centre to Coutinho, who placed his shot from just inside the penalty area right into the bottom corner of Agazzi’s goal. A classy goal from a classy player.
What I was hoping for is that Inter would push on from there, and score three or four goals. But maybe the Nerazzurri had an eye on Tuesday’s big trip to Trabzonspor in the Champions League as they took their foot off the pedal after Coutinho scored and allowed Cagliari to come back into the game.
That tactic almost back-fired when Larrivey scored in the 89th minute to make it 2-1, but Inter managed to see out the final minutes to pick up the valuable three points.
What I liked about the Inter performance today as it gave us a glimpse into the future. Ronaocchia, Coutinho and Alverez are all future stars and it was great to see them all contribute to today’s victory.
What did you think of Inter’s performance today?
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I think today goes to show who should be playing. Alvarez and coutinho did great. I would of liked to see castaignos come in, but hopefully soon enough. Jonathan did well too getting ahead. We should use 4-2-3-1 w/ zanetti, ranocchia, Samuel, Jonathan/maicon in defense. Cambi and motta for the defensive mid. And Alvarez, coutinho, and sneijder for the attacking mids w/ pazzo up top. The team needs to be a bit more solid in the back, but things are looking good.