Champions Inter were held to a frustrating 0-0 draw away to Bologna in their opening match of this Serie A season on Monday.
In a game delayed because of Inter’s European Supercup commitments in Monaco on Friday, the nerazzurri took 45 minutes to wake up and then despite bombarding Bologna’s goal in the second period, they could find no way through.
If playing last season’s treble winners wasn’t tough enough already, Bologna’s preparations were thrown into disarray on the eve of the match when president Sergio Porcedda sacked coach Franco Colomba and temporarily replaced him with youth team boss Paolo Magnani.
PHOTO: AFP
However, the hosts showed remarkable resilience, not least from goalkeeper Emiliano Viviano, who made a number of crucial saves, including one with his head.
Although Inter changed coaches in the summer — Rafael Benitez replacing the Real Madrid-bound Jose Mourinho — the starting XI in a 4-4-3 formation came straight from the Portuguese’s mould.
However, Inter failed to sparkle and only reached something resembling their own high standards after the interval.
Benitez paid tribute to Viviano’s performance, but lamented his team’s lack of freshness.
“He did very well with his head, with his hands, with everything,” Benitez said. “In the beginning we had control, we did well, but then they had some chances on the counter-attack, but in the second half we did everything we’d spoken about beforehand.”
“We’re lacking physical condition and then [Bologna] worked well in defense. They were organized and it wasn’t easy to find space, but I’m happy with the reaction of my team in the second half,” Benitez said. “We hope to do better in future, we’re at the beginning and everyone needs to understand that we must have more of the ball.”
“We had some chances, we showed that even away we wanted to win. We had control, we did everything we could but we lacked freshness,” he said.
Magnani, who will not be in charge of Bologna’s next game, said the next coach would inherit a team in good shape.
“We did well in the first half, physically and with our positioning, we did everything we’d talked about perfectly,” he said. “In the second half we struggled, they were winning the one-on-one battles.”
“We’ve got all the credentials to do well, the president has tried to bring in youth to the squad, I think we have a great chance to have a good season,” Magnani said.
Inter had a scare on 14 minutes as Marco Di Vaio played a crossfield ball over the top that both center-back Lucio and goalkeeper Julio Cesar went for.
Lucio got in a weak clearance that went back across goal and left Julio Cesar stranded, but with an empty net to aim at Henry Gimenez lofted his shot hopelessly over the bar.
Inter were creating little of note, with Esteban Cambiasso volleying over and Kenya international McDonald Mariga dragging a shot from the right well wide of the far post.
Bologna again threatened on 41 minutes as Di Vaio crossed for Gimenez, but the 24-year-old Uruguayan took an age to bring the ball down and then fired over.
Late on in the half, Wesley Sneijder dipped a free-kick just over the bar, but Inter had failed to impose themselves on the first period.
After the break, the champions started to turn the screw as Goran Pandev headed a Diego Milito cross straight at Viviano, who then plunged to his left to keep out a rasping Sneijder drive.
On 73 minutes, Viviano made a stunning one-handed save to keep out a Sneijder free-kick and then moments later the stopper saved Bologna again.
Substitute Coutinho crossed to Samuel Eto’o, who came flying in to volley goalwards from two yards out, but the ball cannoned off the unwitting Viviano’s head, onto the bar and away to safety.
Despite being given a remarkable six minutes of stoppage time to try to find a winner, Inter could find no way through.
Their bitter city rivals AC Milan head the table after their 4-0 thumping of newly promoted Lecce on Sunday.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB