Cagliari draws at the ‘Meazza’ against Inter Milan
Cagliari won an excellent draw at the ‘Meazza’ against Inter: under twice with goals from Thuram and Calhanoglu, the red-blues reeled in the Nerazzurri first with Shomurodov and then with Viola, who even had the chance to put coach Ranieri’s red-blues ahead in the dying minutes.
CHOICES
Ranieri opted for Scuffet in the goalposts; a three-man defence made up of Hatzidiakos, Mina and Obert; Di Pardo and Augello on the flanks, Sulemana, Makoumbou and Jankto in the middle; in attack, the Luvumbo – Shomurodov duo.
UPHILL START
The first sound of the match came from the hosts in the 5th minute: on the development of a corner, the ball ended up on the edge of the area at the feet of Barella, who tried a volley but Scuffet was alert and repelled. Cagliari also came forward and tried to sting the leaders with a restart led by Luvumbo in the 11th minute: the Angola striker reached the edge of the area, firing a left-footed shot that finished just wide. Inter’s lead came a minute later, when Darmian sent Sanchez down the right who found Thuram’s tap-in from the right: 1-0 to the hosts.
FEARLESS RED-BLUES
Cagliari were always insidious with a restart led by Luvumbo in the 17th minute: his left-footed shot troubled Sommer who repelled. In the 26th minute, Obert looked for the insertion of Shomurodov who shot into the arms of the Swiss goalkeeper. On 29′, a change in midfield was made by coach Ranieri: Prati entered and Jankto exited. With courage Cagliari tried and built two more chances: first with the usual Luvumbo, his cross shot ends high; on 40′ on the development of a free kick from the three-quarter, Augello found Di Pardo in the area who put the ball strong in the middle but the conclusion of Shomurodov – a few steps from Sommer – was deflected by the defence, the Nerazzurri goalkeeper parried. No other emotion worthy of note in the final part of the first half, which ended 1-0 to the hosts.
SHOMURODOV FOR THE 1-1
In the 49th minute, on the development of a corner, the Nerazzurri troubled Scuffet with a shot from the distance by Dimarco: the ball went for a corner. Scuffet was busy again in the 62nd minute: the Friulian goalkeeper parried a Calhanoglu free-kick into a corner. Two minutes later the red and blues found the equaliser through Shomurodov: Luvumbo placed a long ball between the Uzbek’s feet, the striker coordinated and let off a strong, precise right-footer.
INTER AGAIN AHEAD
In the 67th minute, Inter went close to taking the lead again with Sanchez: the Chilean’s diving header finished just wide. The Nerazzurri found the lead in the 74th minute, however, with Calhanoglu scoring a penalty awarded for a handball by Mina on Frattesi’s header.
VIOLA’S TIE
Triple change in the 78th minute for the Rossoblù: Lapadula, Viola and Zappa in, Luvumbo, Shomurodov and Di Pardo out. Cagliari’s equaliser came through the newly-entered Viola: in the 82nd minute, the midfielder from Calabria put into the net a loose ball set up by Lapadula, making it 2-2. Viola was the absolute protagonist: he went close to scoring in the 85th minute with a left-footed shot from outside the box, the ball going just wide of the post. On 88 minutes Wieteska came on, Hatzidiakos off. And there was Viola again: with him the Rossoblù went close to the big score at the San Siro. In the 95th minute a Cagliari restart ended with the fantasist’s header that ended up in Sommer’s arms. The match against the league leaders thus ended in a 2-2 draw.
SCOREBOARDS
INTER: Sommer; Bisseck, Acerbi; Bastoni (86’ Buchanan); Darmian (76’ Dumfries), Barella, Calhanoglu, Mkhitaryan (64’ Frattesi), Dimarco (76’ Carlos Augusto); Thuram, Sanchez (76’ Arnautovic). A disp.: Di Gennaro, Audero, Sensi, De Vrij, Cuadrado, Klaassen, Asllani.. All.: Inzaghi
CAGLIARI: Scuffet; Hatzidiakos (88’ Wieteska), Mina, Obert; Di Pardo (78’ Zappa), Makoumbou, Sulemana, Augello; Jankto (28′ Prati), Luvumbo (78’ Viola); Shomurodov (78’ Lapadula). A disp.: Radunovic, Aresti; Dossena, Kingstone, Azzi, Gaetano. All.: Ranieri
REFEREE: Fourneau from Roma 1
GOALS: 12’ Thuram, 64’ Shomurodov, 74’ Calhanoglu, 82’ Viola.
