On Tuesday, Inter Milan defeated Red Star Belgrade 4-0 at the San Siro in their opening encounter of the new Champions League season. Hakan Calhanoglu’s fantastic free-kick opened the scoring in the 11th minute under a deluge in northern Italy, before Marko Arnautovic scored his first goal of the season on the hour. Captain Lautaro Martinez added a third in the 71st minute and shortly after won a penalty, which Iran striker Mehdi Taremi converted for a comfortable home victory.
Martinez, who was in position to take the penalty with Calhanoglu already withdrawn, allowed Taremi to score his first Inter goal past Israel international goalkeeper Omri Glazer. “I’m delighted I scored tonight and played well. Thank you to my teammates. It was fantastic,” Taremi told Sky, before predicting a deep run for his new squad. “Our goal as a big club is to make it to the final, and Inter must win every game.” “We’ll take it step by step.
Tuesday’s victory propelled the Italian champions to four points and into the top eight of the new league phase of the premier club tournament, from which clubs go directly to the final 16, ahead of Wednesday’s games. It’s too early to judge if Inter will escape the playoffs next year, but Simone Inzaghi’s side was too excellent for Red Star despite seven changes from the roster.
Inter have already demonstrated their ability to compete with the best, as seen by their goalless draw against Manchester City a week ago. “It’s a win that we needed after playing well in Manchester, but we need to keep moving in this direction,” Inzaghi said.
Red Star is in 32nd position after losing their first two matches, and coach Vladan Milojevic has criticized an error-filled performance. he was quoted as saying.
Ultras arrested
The match took place against the backdrop of huge arrests of key figures in both Inter and AC Milan’s extreme ultras fan organizations for a range of offenses involving illegal earnings derived from matches. On Monday, police detained 19 persons, virtually all of them were ultras, for “criminal conspiracy aggravated by mafia methods, extortion, assault, and other serious crimes”.
The alleged crimes cover matchday operations outside the San Siro stadium, such as ticket touting, parking control, concession stand sales, and accepting cash from those who do not have tickets and allowing them into the stadium. 8 The arrests on Monday come after a protracted investigation into both teams’ ultras and the terrible assassination last month of Antonio Bellocco, the heir of a key ‘Ndrangheta clan.
Investigators from the financial police and anti-mafia authorities stated on Monday that Inter and Milan were not under investigation and that the issue had “damaged” them. Despite the arrests and the very wet weather in Milan, the mood in the Curva Nord area of the San Siro remained high, with Inter’s biggest fans standing and roaring their team from the start.
The entire stadium was on its feet and bouncing as Calhanoglu whipped in his magnificent free kick to put the hosts ahead as Inter dominated the game. Arnautovic and Denzel Dumfries were both ruled offside when they scored, but Henrikh Mkhitaryan squandered two excellent opportunities to increase to Inter’s rightful advantage.