Article 102 — Inter Marches On To The Final
After the disappointment of Manchester United’s exit at the semi-final stage of the Europa League came the high of Inter’s progress to the final of the Europa League. It would be Inter’s first appearance in a final of any kind after 9 years and their first appearance in a continental cup final after 10 years.
This is how the semi-final against Shakhtar Donestk went:
Pre-game I was worried about the threat of Shakhtar Donetsk. They are a team that keeps possession well and play with the traditional trickery and flair of their Brazilian attackers. They were also unbeaten in their last 11 games and had just smashed FC Basel 4–1 in the quarter-final. How would we measure up to that?
As it turned out, it worked very well for us. Antonio Conte fielded an unchanged line-up for the third Europa League match in a row. On paper, it is not the best available starting line-up but on present form, this line-up picks itself.
Tactically, we got it spot on. We allowed Shakhtar possession in safe areas outside the box and pressed high when the ball was in Shakhtar’s half. We were very well-organised denying any space for Shakhtar to attack. Shakhtar was also reduced to keeping meaningless possession and were slow and turgid in their approach.
Inter scored from their first attempt on goal thanks to the high press. Shakthar’s captain, the veteran Andriy Pyatov played a ball out from his half to Nicolo Barella. Barella capitalised and swung in a cross that was met by the head of Lautaro Martinez. Inter nearly got a quickfire second when Alessandro Bastoni’s cross from the left evaded Romelu Lukaku and went to Danilo D’Ambrosio behind him who put his header wide. Martinez tried to salvage the header going wide but he was already offside and his attempt hit the side-netting.
There were some nearly moments for Inter in the first half and the closest Shakthar got was when Marcos Antonio’s shot went narrowly over. We kept Shakthar at an arm’s length in the first half who posed very little threat to us while we were in the lead and could have got a second goal. I expected an onslaught from Shakthar in the second half as they looked to overcome a narrow deficit. Surprisingly, that was not forthcoming. We were the ones that came closest to scoring instead.
The next goal would be the turning point in the match and all it takes is a second to score. Shakthar very nearly scored that goal when Mykola Matviyenko’s cross from the left was met by Junior Moraes. Thankfully, it was straight at Samir Handanovic and that turned out to be their solitary attempt at goal. The next goal was scored by us when Marcelo Brozovic’s corner was met by Danilo D’Ambrosio. At 2–0, I was half-thinking that it is all over and we got this wrapped up. On the other hand, if we let our guard down and Shakthar scores, it will set up a tense finale to the game.
D’Ambrosio’s goal killed off the tie as we powered on to score our third goal, Martinez with a superb curling attempt past Pyatov. At that point, I felt confident that it was game over and we would progress to the final. But I didn’t expect us to add a fourth and fifth through Romelu Lukaku and nearly a sixth by the young substitute, Sebastiano Esposito. Conte was able to take Martinez, Lukaku and Brozovic off after we built a commanding lead to give them a rest. It was also nice to see Stefano Sensi make his return from his injury.
The scoreline went beyond expectations. It was a wonderful performance, a tactical masterclass from Conte defensively and offensively. It was not quite the perfect performance though. We could have done better in possession in parts of the game. Lukaku got really frustrated with the service he got from the midfielders behind him. Inter pressing on from 2–0 to 5–0 also showed our fitness levels are at a very high level with the season in its final stage now.
The 5 goals Inter scored brought their season’s tally to 111 goals overtaking the number of goals scored in 2006–07 and 1950–51, a new record in a single campaign. Lautaro Martinez chose the right match to rediscover his form after some abject performances since football restarted. His two goals brought his season’s tally to 20 goals. The Martinez and Lukaku partnership became the first duo to score 20+ goals each in a season since Adriano and Obafemi Martins in 2004–05.
The 2 goals Lukaku scored after a frustrating game for him brought his season’s tally to 33 goals in all competitions, one goal away from Ronaldo’s 34 in his debut season. He has also scored in 25 different games this season in all competitions which is one game away from matching Samuel Eto’o’s total of 26 games from 2010–11.
He also set a new record of scoring in 10 consecutive Europa League matches. Lukaku’s rich vein of form continued and Inter needs it for one last game now. While everyone played well this morning, I felt Barella was our Man Of The Match. He was everywhere on the pitch playing a crucial role in the defensive and attacking phase. He could have done better in possession in some instances but had a largely faultless performance.
Inter also became the first Italian team since Parma in 1998–99 to progress to the final of the UEFA Cup/Europa League. It is quite a wretched record for Italian teams as it was a competition that was dominated by Italian clubs in the 90s.
Inter would face the tournament’s record holders, Sevilla in the final on Friday. Sevilla might have sucker-punched Manchester United in their semi-final but not every game is going to be same. I fully expect Sevilla to play better in the final and would be another stern test for Inter. I expect this big win in the semi-final would give the team lots of confidence and most importantly, belief heading into the final. I have faith as well that Conte would keep the team firmly grounded as up to now, we have not achieved anything yet and have a very tough opponent to overcome in the final. I would be surprised if there is any change to the starting line-up for the final from the other three games. A fascinating and intriguing final awaits us. It should be tense, tight and cagey. I just hope we can emerge as winners.
Conte didn’t have a good record as a manager in Cups but he beat a serial and seasoned Cup winner in Jose Mourinho when he guided his Chelsea to beat Manchester United in 2018. This is his opportunity now to prove to everyone that he can win in continental cup competition too after his past failures to progress far with Juventus, Chelsea and Inter in the Champions League this season.
