Nemanja Vidic and Yuto Nagatomo gave Inter a 2-0 victory over Roma that keeps their International Champions Cup hopes alive.
Nemanja Vidic and Yuto Nagatomo gave Inter a 2-0 victory over Roma that keeps their International Champions Cup hopes alive.
Thanks to this win, the Nerazzurri temporarily go top of Group A ahead of Manchester United and Real Madrid, but will only reach the Final if United lose in regulation time tonight.
The two Serie A sides went head-to-head in Philadelphia for the International Champions Cup. Davide Astori made his Giallorossi debut with Alessandro Florenzi as a make-shift right-back, while Dodo faced his former teammates for the first time.
Dodo had an early shot charged down, but there was bad news for Roma when Leandro Castan was carried off with a suspected hamstring problem.
Zdravko Kuzmanovic’s fierce strike on the volley stung the gloves of Lukasz Skorupski, while Juan Manuel Iturbe’s attempt was deflected out for a corner by Juan Jesus.
Florenzi showed he was adapting well to defence, flicking a dangerous cross off the head of Kuzmanovic. Dodo volleyed wide from distance, Samir Handanovic was ready for Iturbe’s dink and Mauro Icardi aimed his header at the goalkeeper.
Nemanja Vidic took a Miralem Pjanic free kick off the head of Mehdi Benatia, but on the resulting corner Handanovic spilled the Radja Nainggolan snapshot and no Roma players were there to follow up.
The deadlock was broken in first half stoppages by Vidic. The ex-Manchester United defender got past distracted defenders for a glancing header on Dodo’s free kick.
Mattia Destro wasted an incredible chance to equalise straight after the restart, but nodded wide from five yards on a splendid Florenzi cross.
Nainggolan drilled off target, but Roma were made to pay for those mistakes when Yuto Nagatomo was totally unmarked on a deflected Danilo D’Ambrosio cross to thump his finish in off the underside of the bar.
Francesco Totti threaded through for ex-Barcelona teen Tonny Sanabria, but he forced a good save out of Juan Pablo Carrizo, while substitute Fredy Guarin had a couple of promising solo efforts.
Inter 2-0 Roma
Scorers: Vidic 45 (I), Nagatomo 69 (I)
Inter: Handanovic (Carrizo 63); Andreolli (Ranocchia 75), Vidic (Silvestre 81), Juan Jesus; Nagatomo (Mbaye 75), Jonathan, M'Vila (Kovacic 63), Kuzmanovic (Guarin 63), Dodò (D’Ambrosio 63); Botta (Laxalt 63), Icardi (Bonazzoli 81)
Roma: Skorupski; Florenzi (Paredes 77), Astori (Calabresi 77), Castan (Benatia 13) (Romagnoli 71), Emanuelson (Cole 61); Pjanic (Salih Ucan 61), De Rossi (Keita 61), Nainggolan (Balasa 77); Iturbe (Borriello 71), Destro (Totti 61), Ljajic (Sanabria 71)