Molinaro on Inter Milan: Desperate times
Posted February 22, 2012 7:20 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
In case you missed it, here are the highlights from Wednesday’s UEFA Champions League action.
The results
Basel beat German giants Bayern Munich 1-0 in Switzerland, while Olympique Marseille defeated Inter Milan 1-0 at home.
Match highlights: Marseille 1, Inter 0 | Basel 1, Bayern 1
What these results mean
Basel takes a one-goal lead into the return leg (thanks to an 86th minute goal from Valentin Stocker), needing only a draw in Germany to move on to the quarter-finals. Bayern needs a win in order to advance to the next round — a loss or tie would see them eliminated from the competition.
Andre Ayew netted an injury time for Marseille, who find themselves in a similar situation compared to Basel, requiring only a draw in the second match in Italy to book their spot in the quarter-finals. Inter needs a win at San Siro — anything less than that would see them bow out of the tournament.
The major storyline
These are desperate times at Inter Milan.
The Nerazzurri have conceded 16 goals in their last seven games overall (six losses and one draw) and have slipped to seventh — seventh! — in the Serie A table, a distant 14 points off the pace of city rivals and league leaders AC Milan.
Now they’re on the brink of exiting the Champions League, a tournament they won two years ago, in the second round after a lifeless performance on Wednesday.
It’s not hard to figure out why Inter have struggled lately — aside from its defensive woes, the Italian outfit has gone over six hours in all competitions without scoring a single goal, this despite having forwards the calibre of Diego Forlan, Giampaolo Pazzini and Diego Milito.
The likes of Forlan et al can only shoulder part of the blame for Inter’s offensive drought, as Wesley Sneijder has gone missing in action (he was marked out of Wednesday’s contest by Alou Diarra) and the midfield haven’t been creating enough scoring chances on a regular basis.
It also didn’t help much that manager Claudio Ranieri used a cautious 4-4-1-1 formation against Marseille, choosing to keep things tight at the back and hit out on the counter rather than take the match to a French side that also showed little invention going forward.
Ranieri flubbed his lines tactically, but the Tinkerman also got it all wrong in terms of his line-up, choosing to start the ineffective Mauro Zarate, and leaving Pazzini and Milito on the bench for the full 90 minutes.
The exclusion of Milito was especially curious — he leads Inter with 12 goals in Serie A this season and is the only player to have scored for the club during its seven-game losing spell.
You hate to read too much into one poor performance or ascribe so much importance to one match. But knowing club owner Massimo Moratti’s penchant for hiring and firing managers, Ranieri’s stint at the helm of Inter hinges on what happens at San Siro in the return leg on March 13.
Interesting tidbits
— Basel star Xherdan Shaqiri was playing against his future employers on Wednesday — Basel agreed to sell the Swiss playmaker to Bayern next season after the clubs agreed on transfer deal last month.
— Inter Milan’s starting line-up featured four Argentines, three Brazilians, one Uruguayan, one Romanian, one Serbian, and one Dutchman, BUT not a single Italian.
— While Inter is winless in its last seven games, Marseille extended its unbeaten run to 16 games and hasn’t lost a match since November.
Play of the day: Stocker’s winning goal for Basel
Goal of the day
The pickings were pretty slim, as only two goals were scored on Wednesday, but Valentin Stocker’s late strike for Basel was a beauty. With the game still hanging in the balance, Jacques Zoua broke into the Bayern penalty area and delivered a great pass to Stocker who fired a low shot through the legs of goalkeeper Manuel Neuer with four minutes left in regulation.
Save of the day
Both Bayern’s Manuel Neuer and Basel’s made some great stops, but the honour goes to Marseille’s Steve Mandanda, who made a brilliant reflex save to deflect a close-range shot from the foot of Diego Forlan over the crossbar in the 11th minute.
Burning questions
— How will Inter Milan cope with Marseille in the return leg if the dangerous Loic Remy (who missed Wednesday’s match with a thigh injury) is fit to play?
— Will Basel show the same fearless attacking attitude in the return leg, or will they employ a more conservative game plan in Germany?
— Will the fact that this year’s Champions League final will be staged in Munich prove to be a motivating influence on Bayern in the second leg, or will that just heap even more pressure on the Bavarians?
3 stars
1.) Alou Diarra: The French international did a superb job of breaking up Inter’s offensive forays, and lent his support to a sturdy back line by routinely dropping back as a fifth defender.
2.) Yann Sommer: The Basel goalkeeper was brilliant, making a handful of highlight reel saves (including twice on Franck Ribery and a breakaway chance by Mario Gomez) to keep his side in the game.
3.) Mario Gomez: The Bayern striker was a constant thorn in the side of Basel’s defence, and he kept Sommer on his toes.
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