Hakan Çalhanoğlu’s first half penalty was the difference between Inter and Arsenal at San Siro.
Arsenal tried on 21 occasions to find the back of the net, but Inter’s resolute defence proved an immovable object, consigning Arsenal to their third defeat in six games.
As it happened
After failing to win their last three games in the Premier League and limping over the line against Shakhtar, Arsenal were left with a lot of their eggs in the European basket; this was not a good time to face Inter, their toughest opponents on paper.
Despite drawing their first game against Manchester City, they’d passed their next two tests against Red Star Belgrade and Young Boys with relative comfort. And for them, losses under Simone Inzaghi have been very rare; only 27 of his 171 games had ended in defeat. This was going to be a stern test for the Gunners.
They started brightly, too. In only the second minute, Denzel Dumfries had just enough room in the box to fizz an effort goalwards. With David Raya beaten, the Dutchman could only watch in dismay as his strike crashed onto the crossbar and back into the box.
Not even a whole minute later, Hakan Çalhanoğlu would also try his luck, his strike albeit much further out and only just wide of the target.
It looked like an early statement from intent, but then the game steadied and chances became ever fewer and ever further between. Both sides had shots, but neither were able to create moments of real quality.
For Inter, it was a case of failing to find the final pass, with a Mehdi Taremi cutback picked off by Leandro Trossard, and Yann Aurel Bisseck’s unlikely dart in behind cut out by a recovering William Saliba – along with some clunky touches from the centre half.
Arsenal on the other hand were limited to hopeful crosses with decidedly limited accuracy; of the seven they attempted in the first half, only one caused a semblance of an issue for Inter, with Yann Sommer missing his attempted punch allowing Mikel Merino to loop a header wide.
Embed from Getty ImagesIt wasn’t until the final moments of the first half that a big chance arose, and it was courtesy of the man who missed that header; it just wasn’t in the box he’d hoped. Inter won a deep free kick after Lautaro Martínez was taken out by William Saliba. Çalhanoğlu whipped the ball into the area and it crashed into the unnaturally placed arm of Merino. Referee István Kovács pointed to the spot, and after a brief VAR check, the penalty was awarded.
It was Inter’s set piece expert who took the spot kick – and the outcome was an inevitability. Çalhanoğlu had scored all 18 of his previous penalties for Inter, and he wasn’t about to put a blight on his record with this one, rolling it nonchalantly into the bottom left corner. Raya was nowhere near it.
Embed from Getty ImagesTheir goal, all but the last kick of the half, was their first shot on target of the game. To say they had ridden their luck would be harsh; but come the second half, they faced an onslaught.
Arsenal had almost all of the ball, and how they failed to score was a mystery.
Their first huge chance came courtesy of a corner, whipped in by Bukayo Saka and glanced goalwards by Gabriel. It was inches from bouncing over the line too, and it would have had Dumfries not been in the right place at the right time to clear the danger right on the goal line.
Only a minute later, Kai Havertz came within a clawed grasp from Sommer from levelling proceedings, curling a glorious strike which hung in the air for what felt like minutes before the Swiss keeper bundled it out for a corner.
Then Dumfries was called into action once more, with Gabriel Jesus smashing an effort goalwards after Inter failed their lines – but the Dutch defender was there to throw his body between the ball and the goal.
Embed from Getty ImagesAll those chances were within the span of only three minutes; it was an all hands to the pump defensive display, and it was needed, because all they could muster at the other end of the pitch was a wayward volley from – guess who – Denzel Dumfries.
There would be yet another chance and yet another defensive block in Inter’s half, this time on 75 minutes to deny a certain goal. Havertz was the shooter this time, controlling a fizzed pass to set up a volley for himself no further than eight yards from goal. As the ball dropped, Bisseck made up his mind to slide in front of the effort, and it was a good thing he did; Sommer had already committed, and had the ball not ricocheted off the German’s thigh and out for a corner, it would’ve been a certain equaliser.
But Arsenal’s reprise would never come. Youngster Ethan Nwaneri would try the spectacular right at the end, spinning past Stefan de Vrij outside the area before blasting an effort over the crossbar. That was their last chance to salvage a point. The Gunners had been beaten, this their first loss of the Champions League campaign.
It marks the continuation a worrying run of form for Mikel Arteta’s side. They’ve now won two of their last six games in all competitions, and one of those was their 3-0 win over Preston North End in the Carabao Cup. Çalhanoğlu’s penalty was the first goal they’ve conceded in the Champions League this season, the result leaving them 12th with problems to address.
Inter are now sitting pretty in fifth, though, and are unbeaten in all competitions over their last 10 games; they haven’t lost since the Derby della Madonnina back in September. They had to really hang on, with Arsenal hitting 14 shots at them in the second half alone, but their defensive resilience carried them to an important three points.
Italian football has changed, but maybe, just maybe, Catenaccio lives to see another day.
The lineups
INT: Sommer; Bisseck, De Vrij, Pavard; Darmian, Zieliński, Çalhanoğlu, Frattesi, Dumfries; Martínez, Taremi
ARS: Raya; Timber, Gabriel, Saliba, White; Martinelli, Merino, Partey, Saka; Trossard, Havertz
