Inter Milan booked their spot within the Membership World Cup final 16 with a hard-fought 2-0 win over River Plate at Lumen Area. Regardless of a rocky begin, the Italian giants powered by way of with second-half brilliance to arrange a knockout conflict in opposition to Fluminense.
The sport started with River Plate making use of relentless strain. The Argentinians dominated the opening 20 minutes, closing down each move and forcing Inter into errors. However whereas their excessive press seemed efficient, they couldn’t translate their dominance into objectives. Mastantuono’s long-range strike — simply saved by Yann Sommer — was their finest effort.
As the primary half wore on, Inter slowly discovered their rhythm. Barella, Dimarco, and Esposito created key possibilities, with Esposito seeing a number of photographs blocked.
The tide shifted when Martinez Quarta obtained a pink card for denying Henrikh Mkhitaryan a transparent probability, lowering River to 10 males.
From there, Inter took full management. Lautaro Martinez hit the put up earlier than forcing a effective save, and at last, 19-year-old Francesco Pio Esposito broke the impasse. He sprinted onto a slick by way of ball from Luka Sucic, shrugged off his marker, and coolly completed for his first senior Inter purpose — on the world stage, no much less.
In stoppage time, Alessandro Bastoni capped off the evening with a stunning solo effort, dribbling previous defenders to attain a uncommon however sensational purpose.
Whereas River Plate crash out, Inter advance to face Brazil’s Fluminense, realizing they have to ship a extra convincing efficiency to proceed their run.
