Goals: Inter Milan – FC Porto – Played on 02/22/ 2023
Inter Milan snatched a fatal and hard-won victory from its guest Porto, 1/0, in the meeting that brought the two teams together at the San Siro Stadium, in the first leg of the Champions League round of 16.
Romelu Lukaku scored the only goal of the match in the 86th minute, leading the Nerazzurri to a precious victory.
The first minutes were like a stage of feeling the pulse of the two teams, so the effectiveness was absent on the goal and the play was confined to the middle.
Lautaro Martinez missed a goal in the 12th minute from the first opportunity in the match, after a quick counterattack that started with a pass from Bastoni to Darmian on the left wing, so that the latter played a cross to the far right, which was met by the completely uncensored Argentine with a header over the goal.
And from a sudden ball, Calhangulu almost advanced to Inter after a corner kick in the 18th minute, which the Turkish executed with a short pass to Dimarco, so that the latter returned it to him again to fire a missile shot directly from outside the area that was on its way to the net had it not been for goalkeeper Costa, who turned it away for a corner.
Porto’s first attempt came after 26 minutes had passed from a cross from the ground inside the area, which Skriniar dispersed in a bad way, to reach Galino to set it up for Grojic, who fired a powerful shot, but it passed higher than Onana’s goal.
The 37th minute almost resulted in the first goal of the match in favor of Porto, after a double chance for the Portuguese team. From a ball that reached Mehdi Tarmi, he played it with the heel to the one coming from behind Grujic, who hit the ball with Onana’s brilliance and saved it to bounce, and Galino followed it up with a header that passed next to the post.
Gallino was alone in the Inter goal to dodge the Nerazzurri goalkeeper and hit a ball at the goal, but Darmian pushed it away before it passed into the net, so the referee blew his whistle, announcing the presence of an offside.
Costa starred and deprived Inter of a certain goal in the final seconds of the first half, after a free kick crossed by Dimarco inside the area, which Bastoni met from the near corner with an excellent and elaborate header that the goalkeeper hardly pushed out of the field with his hand.
At the beginning of the second half, Skriniar passed a long ball from the midfield, hitting the Porto defense, to be received by Barella, and fired a ground shot that passed near the right post of goalkeeper Costa.
Porto threatened Inter’s goal in the 55th minute, after a quick counterattack by Pepe, passing the ball to Tarmi, who penetrated into the area and hit a powerful ball that Onana blocked and bounced back, so the defense followed and scattered away from the goal.
One minute later, goalkeeper Onana stared and blocked a double chance from the feet of the Porto players, after a ball that Skriniar managed to intercept, reaching Zaido, who kicked the ball and saved it with an excellent reaction, to fall inside the 6 yards, and Tarmi followed it up with another shot, the goalkeeper rushed to save it with his foot before Barilla pushed the ball away In front of the goal.
Inter pressure resulted in a new threat after a long ball that Lukaku received and prepared for Barella on the edge of the area, to hit a powerful ball that passed higher than the goal in the 69th minute.
The Inter players mastered wasting opportunities after several passes that reached Hakan to transfer it to Lukaku on the right side inside the penalty area so that the striker played a cross ball inside the 6 yards, which Lautaro failed to touch and put into the net.
In the 78th minute, Ottavio, the star of Porto, received a second yellow card in the match after blocking Calhangulu in front of the area, to be expelled with the red card.
And at the 86th minute, Lukaku disengaged and scored the first fatal goal against Porto, after Barella’s cross from the right side, the great striker rose to her and turned her with a header that hit the right post and rebounded to follow it up with a shot in the middle of the goal that hit the net.
Lukaku almost scored a second goal after one minute, after a corner was executed inside the penalty area, and I reached him to shoot the ball so that Costa would shine and save his goal from a goal so that the rest of the minutes would pass without anything new.
