28 September 2006, by Sean Gillen

Inter crash to second defeat

Inter Milan 0-2 Bayern Munich

Inter Milan have given themselves plenty to do in order to qualify from Group B after a truly awful performance saw the 9-man Nerazurri beaten by Bayern Munich at the San Siro. In what was generally a game low in quality, two late defensive lapses saw the German champions claim the win, and leave Inter without any points after two matches.

Portuguese legend Luis Figo continued in his role behind the striker for Inter, but the winger was substituted with 25 minutes remaining as the home side produced a surprisingly poor showing.

The best chance of the first half fell to Zlatan Ibrahimovic when the Swede latched onto a throughball, but the summer signing struggled to get the ball under control, and was denied by Bayern goalkeeper Oliver Kahn.

Ibrahimovic sees red

Makaay had a half chance, which was saved by the foot of Inter goalkeeper Julio Cesar, before Zlatan Ibrahimovic got the first of two yellow cards for being overly-aggressive when challenging Daniel van Buyten shortly before half time. He was sent off before the hour mark for a raised foot, and Inter failed to regain their composure.

Crespo was gifted a chance when a Stankovic shot fell into his path, but Kahn was again on hand to save from the Argentine.

Bayern stole in to take the lead on 81 minutes when Peruvian forward Claudio Pizarro got in behind the Inter defence and, after holding off Ivan Cordoba, managed to scuff his finish past Cesar.

Fabio Grosso, scorer of the winning penalty for Italy in the World Cup final, then lost his head with five minutes remaining, using a clear elbow to take down Willy Sangol on the touchline. When added to the dismissal of Patrick Vieira in the opening group match against Sporting, Inter have now had three men sent off in just two Champions League games.

Podolski compounded the home side’s misery when he took advantage of some horrendous defending from Colombian Cordoba, and rounded Cesar before firing into an empty net to seal the win for the visitors.

Struggle to qualify

Only 4 teams out of 47 have lost their opening two group stage games and gone on to qualify for the next round of the Champions League. Inter desperately need a win in their next game away at Spartak Moscow in three weeks.

After the match, Inter coach Roberto Mancini was unable to excuse his side’s lack of discipline: “I don’t want people to say I look for excuses, so I have nothing to say about the referee. The players have to stay calm, because despite being down to 10 men we were pushing forward and should’ve kept our heads.”

“We’ve had three red cards in two games and you really can’t expect to get away with that in Europe. You end up paying for those mistakes.”

“I think if we win the next three then we’ll at least end up second, so there’s no need to panic. Yes, the situation is more complicated, but we still have that visit to Munich.”

“It was important to pick up points, whether one or three, but I don’t believe the team collapsed. It’s true that there’s pressure on Inter and always has been, but we want to win the next tie and hope it’ll kick-start our European campaign.”

Inter:
Julio Cesar; Maicon, Cordoba, Materazzi, Grosso; Zanetti, Dacourt, Stankovic (Solari 77); Figo (Gonzalez 67); Ibrahimovic, Crespo (Adriano 77)
Yellow Cards: Ibrahimovic (41), Materazzi (54), Ibrahimovic (58)
Red Cards: Ibrahimovic (58), Grosso (85)

Bayern Munich:
Kahn; Sagnol, Lucio, Van Buyten, Lahm; Salihamidzic (Scholl 70), Otti, Schweinsteiger, Van Bommel; Makaay (Santa Cruz 82), Pizarro (Podolski 88)
Yellow Cards: Otti (35), Sagnol (40), Scholl (76)

Goals:
[0-1] Pizarro, 81
[0-2] Podolski, 91