UCL: Inter Milan 2 – Chelsea 1

cambiasso

The result in last nights match is the reason I got off to a slow start this morning. I was up a little later than usual with a bigger than normal mountain of empties.

Jose Mourinho welcomed his former club to his new home in Italy, the San Siro, and what a welcome the boys from London got when they stepped on to the pitch from the 78,000 strong crowd.

Big European ties can often look great on paper and most fail badly to live up to the hype – this game was one of those rare occasions when the hype leading up to it was matched, probably surpassed.

Everyone was up for it. The fans, the media, the players – and how anyone heard the ref blow his whistle at kick off is a mystery.

From the off the two teams went for glory, the old school way: you attack, we attack.

Inter stunned Chelsea with the speed and menace of their first surge. It was a lightning strike in every sense, Mourinho’s men racing down the inside-left channel, the ball flowing from Zanetti to Thiago Motta to Samuel Eto’o. When Wesley Sneijder dummied, the ball continued merrily towards Milito, whose eluding of John Terry was masterful.

Shifting weight from left foot to right, Milito expertly sent Terry the wrong way, fashioning a yard of space before finding the gap between Petr Cech and the keeper’s right-hand upright.

BOOYAH!!! Inter were one up in three minutes. Both the San Siro and my sitting room exploded with noise. What a start. The face of my brother-in-law was a picture. His money wasn’t as safe as he’d been shouting about since the tie was drawn.

Chelsea fought back and refused to be daunted by the scoreline or the setting. Drogba unleashed a thunderous free-kick that rattled the Inter crossbar. Julio Cesar clutched a Drogba shot and a Ballack drive.

The back line of the blue and black was solid. Lucio – my man of the match – was playing his best football since signing last summer. The big Brazilian was looking the part and his partner Walter ‘The Wall’ Samuel put in a great shift.

When the Inter team sheet and line-up was revealed just before kick off I wasn’t at all surprised to see Jose opted for his preferred diamond formation with Motta left, Stankovic right, Sneijder at the tip and Cambiasso back holding.

It wasn’t my choice but I knew Jose would change it up at half time or just soon after and that’s what he did when Chelsea equalised.

Branislav Ivanovic charged 50 yards, eventually slipping but managing to slide the ball to Kalou as he fell. The Ivory Coast international met the ball first time, driving it past Julio Cesar. For once, the Brazilian faltered, although he saw the deflected shot late.

But Inter stormed back into the lead just four minutes later, Cambiasso the hero with a superb strike. Sneijder lifted in a cross from the left. Ricardo Carvalho managed to head the danger clear but only to Cambiasso, whose first shot hit Terry. His second was deadly, the ball speeding past Cech.

Both teams made changes and continued to attack with high tempo end to end action, yet the scoreline remained 2-1. Perhaps things would have been different if the likes of Frank Lampard and Nicolas Anelka weren’t posted missing for huge parts of the match.

And to think there’s more of the same to come at Stamford Bridge next month.

I can’t wait…

Posted on February 25, 2010 | Filed Under Football