A new season of sports
Relying on substitute striker Arnautovic's only goal of the game, Inter Milan defeated arch-rivals Atletico Madrid 1-0 at home in the first leg of the Champions League 1 8 final that ended in the early hours of this morning. The Nerazzurri managed to seize the opportunity in the two-legged duel and gain a psychological advantage to qualify for the last eight of this season's Champions League.
In this game, against the strong opponent of Atletico Madrid, the performance of the Nerazzurri did not disappoint the home fans. Although it was only a small victory of 1 goal in the end, but from the perspective of the process, Inter Milan has an absolute advantage, and it can even be said that Inter and Atletico Madrid are not at the same level today, and Inzaghi's team is obviously more mature, and the play at both ends of the attack and defense is more stable. Inter had a total of 19 shots on goal, five of which hit the woodwork of Atletico, while the Sheets had just seven shots on target. In other technical statistics, Inter is also stronger than Atletico Madrid.
Arnautovic, who was responsible for the win in this game, replaced the injured Thuram Jr. at the beginning of the second half (according to the latest information, the French striker went off with adductor spasm), and he continued his "profligate" striker performance after coming on. In the 49th minute of the game, Dimarco crossed, and Arnau shot sideways in front of the goal, wasting a good chance to score. In the 63rd minute of the game, Inter Milan played a match in the Atletico Madrid penalty area, Lautaro sent a pass, Arnautovic faced the goal close at hand, and actually kicked the ball away again, directly helping the opponent to resolve the crisis.
Just when Inter fans were about to despair about the substitute striker and began to miss Thuram Jr. immensely, Arnautovic finally seized the opportunity to redeem himself. In the 79th minute of the game, Inter played a quick counterattack, captain Lautaro Martinez's goal was saved by Oblak, Arnautovic did not pull down this time, he rushed to the horse, successfully seized the opportunity to complete the supplementary goal, and helped Inter rewrite the score.
Counting the goals in this game, Arnautovic has now scored in two consecutive games, and the Austrian striker has contributed four goals and three assists in all competitions this season. For the 35-year-old striker, Inter fans had a clear expectation of his goals this season. As a substitute striker, Arnautovic is qualified by scoring 6 goals throughout the season, scoring 8 goals is already excellent, and if he can score double-doubles, it will exceed expectations. If the Inter substitute striker can continue his scoring streak, he will at least have a good performance this season.
In this game, Arnautovic, who scored the winning goal, was rated the best of the game after the game. This is also the first time in the Austrian striker's career that he has been awarded the title of Champions League player in a single game, and at the age of 35, he can still win the Champions League single game award, which I believe will play a huge role in encouraging Arnau's confidence.
This season, Inter have relied too heavily on two strikers in the forward line, Lautaro and Thuram Jr. With Arnautovic able stepping up to help share the pressure with the two main strikers and still contribute goals, it is too timely for the Nerazzurri to compete for the title!