Inter secured a 4-1 aggregate victory over Feyenoord with a 2-1 Champions League win in San Siro on Tuesday night, which sets up a date with Bayern Munich in the quarter-finals thanks to goals from Marcus Thuram and Hakan Calahonglu.
There were several notable absentees from the Inter line-up. Federico Dimarco is still the biggest name on the injury table, while Lautaro Martinez, Nicolo Barella and Alessandro Bastoni were given rests ahead of the massive game against Atalanta coming up in Serie A this weekend.
Feyenoord had their own injuries to contend with as well, and with starman Igor Paixao ruled out, there was a debut for 18-year-old Aymen Sliti in attack.
You can see how the action unfolded on the Football Italia Liveblog.
Thuram had Inter 1-0 up on the night and 3-0 up on aggregate 10 minutes in at San Siro. The Frenchman did it all on his own, carrying the ball into the left of the area, twisting and turning before bending a fine effort into the top corner of the Feyenoord net.
Inter had only conceded once in the Champions League this season until Tuesday night, in the 1-0 loss away against Bayer Leverkusen, but that would change midway through the first half against Feyenoord.
A clumsy bit of defending from Hakan Calhanoglu and Francesco Acerbi in the area gave the visitors a penalty kick after a lengthy VAR review. The Italian was holding Moder’s shirt, and Calhanoglu went on to clip him on the achilles.
The Brighton loanee dusted himself off and dispatched the resulting spot kick past Yann Sommer and into the bottom left, becoming the first opposition player this season to score a Champions League goal in San Siro.
Another penalty kick restored Inter’s three-goal aggregate advantage. Taremi spotted an opportunity, tried to nick the ball away on the corner of the Feyenoord area, but was clipped, fouled and given a penalty. Calhanoglu stepped up to take and slotted past Wellenreuther into the bottom right-hand corner of the net for 2-1 on the night.
Kristjan Asllani ruled himself out of the quarter-final first leg two minutes after his introduction. He gave the ball away following an Inter throw-in, brought his man down and was straight into the book as a result.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan was also gifted a chance to get on the scoresheet just after the hour mark after being teed up by Thuram, but he leant back and fired over just inside the area on the cut-back.
Inter were initially handed a second penalty midway through the second half, but it was later overturned following a VAR review. Thuram appeared to slightly trip himself, which meant that he was already on his way down when the contact from Beelen arrived in the area. The Frenchman was even given a yellow card for simulation.
Not deterred by his booking, Thuram rattled the underside of the crossbar shortly afterwards, which turned out to be his last kick of the game, as Marko Arnautovic came on to replace him shortly afterwards.
Inter will go on to face Bayern Munich in the quarter-finals in April after the Bavarians’ aggregate victory over Bundesliga rivals Bayer Leverkusen.
Inter 2-1 Feyenoord (4-1 agg.)
Thuram 8’ (I), Moder (F) 42’, Calhanoglu 51’ (I).
Player statistic
Marcus Thuram
8'
42'
Jakub Moder
45+2'
Gijs Smal
Hakan Calhanoglu
51'
Kristjan Asllani
62'
Marcus Thuram
69'
Match statistic
Starting lineups
Substitutes
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