FC Inter Milan wins Italian Super Coppa
Inter Milan continued their exceptional form, from last season, to win their fourth silverware of this year. They beat a resilient AS Roma side by 3-1.
Rafael Banitez has started his campaign in Internazionale with silverware. This would be Banitez’s first trophy after a very long time, as he had some rough and dry spells in Liverpool. Also, this would be his first trophy for Inter Milan, which means that he is on a good start with his new club.
The first half ended with scores level on 1-1, with both teams having equal amount of chances. However, it was the visitors, AS Roma that went ahead as John Arne Riise, a former player under Banitez, scored in 21st minute. The scores were levelled by Goran Pandev of Inter Milan, as he scored in 42nd minute.
The second half was dominated by Inter Milan, as Samuel Etto scored twice within the space of ten minutes, to give the ultimate victory to his team. Inter Milan has started their new season with a victory, at the same time showing that they are still the favourites to win this year.
For this match, Rafael Banitez did not take any chances, as he played the same formation as was played under Jose Mourinho. The defence looked solid for Inter Milan, as Lucio, Maicon and Walter Samuel were all present. AS Roma’s coach, Caludio Ranieri did not make any particular changes as well, as he decided to go ahead with almost the same team as last year.
Inter Milan’s attack was led by Diego Milito, their star from Champions League final, and Samuel Etto. In case of AS Roma, Francesco Totti and Mirko Vucinic were leading the attack against Inter Milan’s defenders.
Both teams showed a lot of intent with the start of the match. Inter Milan’s hero from last year, Wesley Sneijder had a few decent efforts in the opening minutes of first half. On the other hand, the Roma’s attacking duo was looking more threatening in the beginning, as they missed quite a few chances. Also, in the beginning Milan’s defence looked a little shaky, and they took a little time to get settled.
Totti, Roma’s captain, was the best player of first half, and it was his cross that found Riise, who scored to give lead to his side. However, a mistake at the back proved fatal for Roma. A back pass to the goalkeeper was intercepted by Goran Pandev, who scored to level the game before the end of first half.
The second half was started well by AS Roma, as they continued to pose threat to Inter Milan. However, the game came in control of Inter Milan’s duo, Samuel Etto and Diego Milito. Both these players were involved in a great move, which resulted in a goal by Milito on a cross fed by Etto. However, the Cameroonian international was wrongly declared off-side, thus, the goal was denied. Both these players were involved again, and this time goal was scored by Etto on a cross provided by Milito, to give Inter Milan their first lead in the match.
Ten minutes later, Samuel Etto was again involved in a move with Sneijder. This time the Dutch midfielder provided the killer pass to Etto, who scored his second goal to give seal the victory for his team. There were no significant moments in the match after this goal, as Banitez brought on Marco Materazzi in place of Sneijder, to defend for the last ten minutes of the game. In the end, Roma lost by 3-1, despite dominating for most part of the game.
Right now, Rafael Banitez would be in great position to win six trophies in this year. Next, he would face Athletico Madrid for European Super Cup. Later this year, he would be playing in FIFA Club World Cup, which would be easy to win as well. It he is able to maintain his victories in this season, he would be able to achieve an incredible thing for Inter Milan. Barcelona did it last year, while this would be the first time an Italian club would be able to do it, making Inter Milan the most successful team in history of Serie A.
Tags: