19 October 2006, by Sean Gillen

Inter win puts pressure on Sporting

Inter Milan 2-1 Spartak Moscow

Portuguese winger Luis Figo has praised his Inter side after they secured a crucial win in the Champions League against Spartak Moscow on Wednesday evening. The Italian champions put themselves back in the running for qualification from Group B with a crucial home win over the Russian side at the San Siro.

“It was important to win today to stay in with a chance of qualifying in the Champions League after the first two defeats,” said Figo. “I think the team did well in general. We missed a few chances to kill off the game and we had a few problems at the end. All in all, we played a good game.”

Figo’s good form at the weekend earned him a starting place in Roberto Mancini’s side, but it was Cruz, back from injury, who made the difference for the Nerazurri. Cruz gave his side the lead in the second minute of the match, lashing in a clinical finish after an Alvaro Recoba free-kick fell kindly to him inside the Spartak penalty area.

His second came before the 10-minute mark, and was again a result of some good setup play from the Uruguayan. Recoba crossed from the left for Cruz to head home and all but put the tie beyond the Russians.

Figo hit the crossbar with a free-kick before Roman Pavluchenko pulled a goal back for the visitors in the 54th minute. Inter held out, however, to secure a much-needed three points to move within a point of second place Sporting.

Inter coach Mancini was delighted with the win: “We started very well and we should have killed off the game in the first half with our many chances,” said the former Italian international.

“We slowed down a bit in the second half, but this was to be expected because we fielded Cruz and Recoba who played together from the first minute for the first time.”

“We came from two defeats in the Champions League and we needed to win at all costs so there was the risk of having the wrong approach to the game. But the boys really did very well.”

Next for the Italians is a trip to Moscow, and Mancini’s men will be hoping to take maximum points and put the pressure back on Sporting, who travel to Bayern Munich.

With the Germans looking like strong favourites to win the group, the meeting between Inter and Sporting on match day five at the San Siro will surely go a long way to deciding who joins them in the knockout phase.

Inter Milan:
Julio Cesar, Maicon, Cordoba, Materazzi, Zanetti, Dacourt, Vieira, Stankovic, Figo (Adriano, 69), Recoba (Burdisso, 58), Cruz (Samuel, 90)
Yellow Cards: Figo (33)

Spartak Moscow:
Kovalewski, Shishkin, Jiranek, Geder, Rodriguez, Kovac, Mozart (Owusu Abeyie, 46), Bystrov (Kalinichenko, 75), Titov, Boyarintsev, Pavluchenko
Yellow Cards: Rodriguez (32), Kalinichenko (82)

Goals:
[1-0] Cruz, 2
[2-0] Cruz, 9
[2-1] Pavluchenko, 54