It could have been a perfect matchday for Italian clubs: after Lazio and Milan obtained their 6 points on Tuesday, it was it was Inter and Roma’s turn to get on the winning sheet and give Serie A a perfect 12 out of 12 for day 4 of the UEFA Champions League. A little mishap however forced the Giallorossi to tie their game against Portuguese opponents Sporting Lisbon, giving Italian teams a total of 10 points out of 12. Still pretty good. The biggest highlight of the day wasn’t however the point total achieved by Serie A teams in matchday 4, but rather the fact that both Inter and Roma achieved a “come-from-behind” performance that allowed the Nerazzurri to claim the victory, and the Giallorossi to obtain a valuable point for the next round qualification.
Most pundits predicted that after this match the Nerazzurri would have one foot solidly into the next ground, but few were expecting such a dramatic come-from-behind victory. From 0-2 to the final 4-2, Inter brought the San Siro house down with 2 goals by Esteban Cambiasso and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who contrary to his average performance against Juve this week-end, was absolutely on fire.
Inter coach Roberto Mancini had a few line-up problems for this one, his injury list already looking pretty long and receiving the addition of Luis Figo recently, hurt in the match against Juve this week-end. As a result, the utilization of otherwise-would-be defenders was necessary, Maxwell in this case who took onto the role of left midfield. The striking force for the Nerazzurri was composed of Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Hernan Crespo, with the week-end hero Julio Cruz receiving a turn of rest. On the other wide, coach Gazaeev displayed his usual Brasilerao-rejects formation (ok, I’m being harsh, but come on the formations for this match were almost ridiculous: no Italians for Inter, and less than half of CSKA with Russian players… Platini must have thrown up in his mouth watching this game): Dudu behind Carvalho the playmaker, and Jo and Vagner Love to provide the finish.
Note: Unfortunately a glitch in WordPress made me accidentally delete the rest of the match report, and since I didn’t keep my hard copy on file I’m afraid it’s lost and gone. I’ll refer you to Channel4.com’s article for details on what happened in Inter-CSKA Moscow.
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| GOALSCORERS: 23’ Jo (C), 30’ Vagner Love (C), 32’, 75’ Ibrahimovic (I), 34’, 67’ Cambiasso (I) | ||
| INTER (4-4-2): Julio Cesar – Maicon, Córdoba, Samuel, Chivu – J.Zanetti, Dacourt, Cambiasso, Maxwell (67’ Solari) – Ibrahimovic (84’ Suazo), Crespo (63’ Cruz). (bench: Orlandoni, Rivas, Bolzoni, Jiménez). Coach: R.Mancini. | ||
| CSKA MOSCOW (3-4-1-2): Afinkeev – A.Berezutski, V.Berezutski (69’ Eduardo), Grigoriev – Zhirkov, Dudu (84’ Taranov), Rahimic, Krasic – Carvalho – Jo (46’ Aldonin), Vagner Love. (bench: Mandrykin, Ramon, Janczyk, Caner). Coach: Gazaeev. | ||
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All things considered, in terms of the quality of play they provided this was a modest Roma team tonight, but one that maximized the benefits from their efforts and obtained a capital away result. Something usually uncommon for the Gialorossi: they were forced to let go of the playmaking reins to the benefit of a very well organized, technical and combative Sporting team, something Spalletti’s men aren’t exactly used to in Serie A (usually, they are the ones dictating the play). In addition, they had to deal with last-minute injuries (Max Tonetto in the pre-game warm-up and Philippe Mexes during the match) which didn’t exactly help in their mission. However, for once Roma were as cynical and productive as teams hungry for results should be: they didn’t rest on their “beautiful play” laurels, and when forced to fight for the points they gave a fierce display, and grabbed the equalizer at the death.
This match even started in the best of ways for the Giallorossi, who only 4 minutes in had already scored the first goal. On the left wing, Mançini fed the ball for Marco Cassetti in the center, and the Italian wing-back eluded the defensive wall of a few opponents, converged on the edge of the box and let a hard shot rip inside the top right corner. A great goal for the 1-0 scoreline.
You would think that with Roma in the lead, the match would turn into a controllable game for the Gialorossi, with their opponents being forced to open up dangerous avenues for counter-attacks. Not so. Sporting reacted to the early deficit as any great team should do: with a cool head, and utilizing their technical potential to perfection. Moutinho, Romagnoli and Liedson notably, were giving the Roma defense shivers with their one-touch combinations, and the fact that the Gialorossi rear guard was already under the public eye for the 16 goals conceded in Serie A, didn’t do much to help the general Roma confidence.
Sporting’s assaults doubled in strength over the course of the first period, and the Portuguese team almost grabbed the equalizer in the 13th: Abel armed a long-range shot which the Roma keeper couldn’t get hold of, and Liedson slammed the rebound home. Fortunately for Roma, the Portuguese player was a bit rough on Doni in doing so, and the score remained 1-0. Only temporarily.
With Sporting in possession on the right wing, Izmailov centered a low cross inside the box. Mexès tried to intercept, but in so doing anticipated his own keeper causing a collision between the two. Liedson was thus undisturbed to deposit into an empty net for the 1-1 tally.
The half ended with the efforts of Djalò (close header), Perrotta (20m shot), David Pizarro (balloned effort on some good work by Mançini) and Moutinho (edge of the box shot), all wide. 1-1 at the break.
At the restart, the bad news for Roma were the injury to Mexès in the clash with Doni in the first period, forcing Spalletti to replace the French defender with Matteo Ferrari. The Gialorossi however seemed to be better in control early in the half, with a better organization of their defensive block and the hand constantly hovering over the “counter-attack” button. It was a only an illusion however, because as soon as they obtained a little confidence, their opponents harshly punished them: on the developments of a corner-kick, Juan left Liedson unmarked for a short while, and the Brazilian player obliged to deposit a header from point-blank range. 2-1 Sporting.
Luck was on Roma’s side tonight though: on the last play of the match, David Pizarro attempted a somewhat optimistic shot from 30 yards, and found the noggin of Polga. The Brazilian defender attempted to clear the midfielder’s effort, but instead ended up deflecting the ball into his own net, with keeper Tiago frozen to the spot. What a sweat for the Giallorossi, but 2-2 the final score.
Things are now looking good for the Giallorossi, thanks to the 3 point advantage they have over Sporting due to their 2-1 victory in Rome. Man Utd is virtually already qualified for the Last 16, so the key match to obtain the next round ticket will be November 27′s away matchup against Dynamo Kiev.
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| GOALSCORERS: 4’ Cassetti (R), 22’, 64’ Liedson (S), 89’ Polga o.g. (R) | ||
| SPORTING LISBON (4-1-3-2): ): Tiago – Abel, Tonel, Polga, Ronny – Veloso – Izmailov (89’ Pereirinha), Romagnoli, Moutinho – Djalò (63’ Vukcevic), Liedson. (bench: Rui Patricio, Paredes, Purovic, Farnerud, Gladstone). Coach: Bento. | ||
| ROMA (4-2-3-1): Doni – Cicinho, Mexès (46’ Ferrari), Juan, Cassetti – De Rossi, D.Pizarro – Giuly (91’ Brighi), Perrotta (80’ Esposito), Mançini – Vucinic. (bench: Curci, Antunes, Pit, Barusso). Coach: Spalletti. | ||
Note: This is the same article I published on Soccerlens.com, which you can find 
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