Romelu Lukaku was benched again after ending his goal drought at the weekend, but he came on to have a huge impact against Porto.
Romelu Lukaku was decisive off the bench with a late winner as Inter scraped a 1-0 victory over Porto in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League last-16 tie at San Siro.
Simone Inzaghi’s men looked hopeless in the goalless draw, but Inter were helped by Lukaku.
A tense first half was wasted for the Nerazzurri, with Lautaro Martinez missing a golden opportunity and Alessandro Bastoni forcing Diego Costa into a spectacular save.
The second half wasn’t exactly dominated after that, but soon after Porto midfielder Ottavio was sent off, Lukaku headed home to score for the second time in less than a week.
Martinez would have been disappointed to have missed his goal with Federico DiMarco’s unbeaten 13th-minute header.
The opportunity punctuated a largely dull opening game, but the match showed signs of life in the final eight minutes of the first half.
Galeno nodded in as Marko Grujic’s powerful shot hit Andre Onana’s knee, before Costa saved Bastoni’s header.
Inter then thanked Onana just before the hour mark as he was able to keep Mehdi Taremi’s rebound on the line to deny Zido Sanousi and allow the Iranian to score.
Otavio was sent off in the 12th minute for a challenge on Hakan Karjanoglu, giving Inter a numerical advantage which they took full advantage of.
Substitute Lukaku headed Niccolo Barella’s cross into the net, but Costa knocked the rebound home.
what do you mean? Inter go to Portugal with something to defend
It’s certainly not a classic and Inter were under pressure for most of the game. There was little debate that a draw was a fair result.
However, Inter finished the game very well and deserve credit for winning on the line when it didn’t look convincing earlier.
The tie is by no means over, but now Porto must win the second leg. It won’t be an easy task for Sergio Conceicao’s side as Inter have lost just once in their last 14 games.
Clicks on ADS 👇👇
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