Inter 1-0 Arsenal: Gunners suffer first UCL defeat
Inter 1-0 Arsenal: Gunners suffer first UCL defeat. Mikel Arteta and his Arsenal side suffered their first defeat in the Champions League this season as they were beaten 1-0 by Inter at the San Siro on Wednesday night.
The Gunners were unable to repeat their November 2003 their last meeting with Inter when Thierry Henry inspired a 5-1 win, as Hakan Calhanoglu’s penalty was enough to cause damage to Mikel Arteta’s side who has now recorded back-to-back losses after already being beaten at Newcastle United last weekend.
The result sees Arsenal slip down to 12th in the new league phase table, while Inter are impressively up to fifth after seeing out a huge win.
How the game unfolded;
Arsenal were happy to welcome back captain Martin Odegaard to the substitutes bench at San Siro, but were without Declan Rice. But they were facing an Inter team that perhaps, had one eye on their upcoming top-of-the table Serie A clash with Napoli at the weekend.
Simone Inzaghi has been happy to rotate in midweek given the depth of his squad, and he left the likes of Nicolo Barella, Alessandro Bastoni, Federico Dimarco, and Marcus Thuram on the bench here. However, they were rapid out of the blocks and almost a goal ahead within five minutes when Denzel Dumfries’ shot rattled the crossbar. Calhanoglu then also came close with an effort from distance.
The Gunners however did ease into the contest and started to have success out of possession against Inter’s proficient build-up. They managed to prevent the Nerazzurri’s metronomes from dictating the contest, forcing Yann Sommer into low-percentage passes out wide.
On the ball, Arsenal did a good job of pinning their wide players and isolating Bukayo Saka up against either Matteo Darmian or Yann Bisseck. While they struggled to fashion a clear-cut opening in the first half, Arteta would’ve entered the break the happier of the two managers had Mikel Merino not been punished for a handball inside the penalty area on the stroke of half-time. Calhanoglu dispatched the spot-kick brilliantly to hand the hosts a 1-0 advantage.
Inter’s lead didn’t exactly embolden them after the restart, though, with the visitors enjoying sustained periods of pressure around the box. Arsenal continued to threaten from corners, forcing Dumfries into a goal-line clearance, while Kai Havertz drew a smart save out of Sommer from a cross-cum-shot. Havertz was then denied by a superb Bisseck block after the ball fell kindly to him.
Arsenal’s pressure forced Inter to shut up shop, with Inzaghi making changes to aid his side’s ability to see out the game. The Nerazzurri were content with surrendering the game to their visitors, forcing them into crossing the ball relentlessly. The hosts were well-stocked to deal with such a threat, and they saw the game.
