After being voted the UEFA European player of the season on Thursday, a lot was expected from Diego Milito on Friday when Champions League winners Inter Milan took on Europa League winners Atletico Madrid for the Super Cup trophy.
The Argentine was the hero 3 months ago when he scored both goals in Inter‘s 2-0 victory over German side Bayern Munich in the Champions League final. Milito however failed to provide the form that saw Maradona add him as a last minute inclusion in his World Cup squad yesterday leaving many asking whether the Italian side will be as dominant as they were last season.
Benitez fielded a similar Inter squad that featured in the Champions League final and the one largely responsible for ruthlessly demolishing fellow Serie A clubs in the run up to their historic treble trophy success.
That did not seem to work as the Nerazzurri missed chances that could have otherwise changed the course of the entire match. Inter provided the first real threat of the game with only a few seconds into the match when Dutch play maker Wesley Sneijder volleyed the ball over the cross bar after a throw in from Maicon.
The trend continued in the 29th minute when Eto’o headed Sneidjer’s corner over the cross bar. The Cameroonian was not finished as 3 minutes later, he fired a shot wide after skipping past Atletico’s defense.
Both teams went into the break goalless and at that point, the match was anyone’s to win. The second half however proved to be a different affair as the Italians were punished for their missed chances after Jose Antonio Reyes struck in the 63rd minute to open up the game.
20 minutes later Aguero sealed their victory with the simplest of tap ins after Simao played him into the 6 yard box. Milito had the chance to restore Inter’s Pride but his penalty was saved by Atletico’s keeper in the last minute of regular time.
Inter’s loss only fires them up for their opening Serie A tie against Bologna on Monday.
Photo credit: from Gilyo
{ 2 trackbacks }