Wasteful Inter spurned a host of chances and needed a second-half strike from Argentine forward Diego Milito to beat CSKA Moscow 1-0 in their Champions League quarter-final, first leg on Wednesday.
Milito rifled in a right-footed shot into the bottom corner from the edge of the box in the 65th minute at the San Siro after a strong run by Wesley Sneijder.
CSKA closed down Inter well in the first half, but showed little ambition as the Italian champions increased the tempo after the break.
PHOTO: REUTERS
The hosts failed to put away a series of chances either side of Milito’s goal, with CSKA keeper Igor Akinfeyev making some fine saves. Inter striker Goran Pandev also had an effort cleared off the line.
“Unfortunately, I can’t start thinking about the semi-final yet,” Inter coach Jose Mourinho told a news conference. “Unfortunately I still have to think about another hard match in Moscow.”
“We had chances for a better result - 1-0 leaves the tie open, but we are in front,” he said, adding that Inter had “overcome their mental block with the Champions League” after recent disappointments in the competition.
CSKA, who upset Sevilla in the previous round, gave no signs of stage fright in the early exchanges, with Milos Krasic making a good break down the right straight after kickoff.
Inter, without suspended center back Lucio and midfielder Thiago Motta, looked to be struggling to find a way through the Russians’ defensive maze.
However, they woke up after seeing their keeper Julio Cesar push away a Yevgeny Aldonin effort on one of CSKA’s rare foray forward 10 minutes into the second half.
Akinfeyev did well to deny Samuel Eto’o, Dejan Stankovic and Esteban Cambiasso and Pandev afterwards and Sneijder hit a great chance wide in the closing stages.
Krasic and Aldonin will miss next week’s return leg after being booked.
“Today’s result could not have been better, but it could have been worse,” said CSKA coach Leonid Slutsky, adding that he does not think his club’s artificial pitch will give them a big advantage in the second leg. “The synthetic pitch will not be fundamental for the teams. It has never been unfavorable to our rivals.”
Olivier Giroud’s bicycle-kick on Tuesday broke Atletico Madrid’s resistance and earned Chelsea a crucial away goal, a 1-0 victory giving Thomas Tuchel’s side a slender advantage in the UEFA Champions League last 16. Giroud’s acrobatic strike was initially ruled out for offside, but stood after the video assistant referee showed that Mario Hermoso had the final touch, delivering a huge blow to Atletico’s hopes of reaching the quarter-finals. Diego Simeone’s side had put on a typically disciplined defensive performance until that point, but Giroud’s moment of genius means that they must score in London on March 17 if they are to avoid
Tiger Woods has had surgery for multiple fractures of his right leg after a car accident that a Los Angeles police officer said he was “very fortunate” to have survived. The golfer was “awake and responsive” after the operation to insert a rod into his tibia and stabilize his ankle with pins, his TGR foundation said on Tuesday night. Los Angeles County Deputy Sheriff Carlos Gonzalez, the first to respond after Woods’ car went off the road in a single-vehicle accident, said that the sports star was “calm and lucid,” despite being trapped inside his vehicle. Woods was removed from the crash by
‘INTIMIDATING’: Andy Murray said that players on the ATP Tour face a difficult challenge going from semi-finals to facing 17-time Grand Slam winners in a final Naomi Osaka’s Australian Open championship moved her up one spot to No. 2 in the WTA rankings on Monday, while men’s finalist Daniil Medvedev rose to a career-best No. 3 behind winner Novak Djokovic on the ATP list as Andy Murray said that the “young guns” on the men’s tour have not closed the gap on the “Big Three.” Jennifer Brady, the 25-year-old American who was the runner-up to Osaka, jumped 11 spots to No. 13, her first time inside the top 20. Aslan Karatsev’s historic run from qualifying to the final four before losing to nine-time Australian Open champion Djokovic allowed
‘ESCAPE FROM JUSTICE’: A US gymnast who trained under Geddert for more than 10 years and was assaulted by Larry Nassar called his suicide ‘an admission of guilt’ A former US Olympics gymnastics coach with ties to disgraced sports doctor Larry Nassar on Thursday killed himself, hours after being charged with turning his Michigan gym into a hub of human trafficking by coercing girls to train and then abusing them. John Geddert faced 24 charges that could have carried years in prison had he been convicted. He was supposed to appear in an Eaton County court, near Lansing, Michigan, but his body was found at a rest area along Interstate 96, state police said. “This is a tragic end to a tragic story for everyone involved,” Michigan Attorney General Dana
RSS