Champions League: Moving On

By: Martha | December 12th, 2007

Cruzigol Inter and Roma both took this Matchday as an opportunity to rest their most tired legs, each starting teams with only a handful of regulars, and saving those who have run the most in the last four months (particularly Daniele De Rossi for Roma, and Javier Zanetti and Esteban Cambiasso for Inter) until the second half. And that approach worked fine for both teams: Inter beat PSV 1-0 in a match that was cooled significantly by PSV going down to 10 men after a half hour, while Roma drew 1-1 with Manchester United, tying the game in the second half and dominating the last 20 minutes, thanks the addition of De Rossi, Ludo Giuly and Mirko Vucinic.

Inter started with three strikers and PSV needed a win to have hope of going through, so you’d have thought to match would have been a somewhat raging affair, but you’d have been wrong. There were good chances on both ends early in the match, but PSV lacked the enterprise one would expect from a team in their position, and Inter, while they certainly created some chances (a fantastic one was blown by Santiago Solari, who worked his legs off in the match), weren’t particularly sharp. That said, Inter were comfortable and got even more so when Edison Méndez took David Suazo down from behind as the last defender, and was send off with a straight red with an hour to play. From that point, though PSV were never pinned back, it always looked to be Inter’s game — they kept possession well and it was only a matter of time before their strikers (by which I mean Julio Cruz) stopped blowing chances and put them in front.

That moment finally came in the 63rd minute, when Cruz tapped in a gift from Suazo, who had beaten two PSV defenders in the box before turning the ball back for Cruz and an empty goal. As the match wore on, though, PSV finally went forward with a bit of commitment and had some fantastic late chances. Danko Lazović, in particular, was tireless up to for the Dutch side, and really should have done better late in the game when he fired over from close range. It ended 1-0, though, with Inter and Fenerbahçe going to the knockout stages, and PSV heading to the UEFA Cup.

Back in Italy, meanwhile, Roma became the first team to take a point off United during the group stages and, were it not for the uprights, could well have taken all three. According to match reports, the encounter was wide open from the start, with Wayne Rooney shooting over within the first minute while Roma struggled to find their feet. Francesco Totti had a goal ruled out for offside in the 10th minute, though, and Roma gradually took control of the half, and should have taken the lead through Mauro Esposito, who missed the goal entirely with a free header in the box (and did the same again later, after Roma had gone behind). United broke the deadlock just after the 30 minute mark, when Gerard Piqué got on the end of a Nani corner and headed it into Doni’s net.

United took the lead into the interval and were the stronger team for the start of the second half, but Giuly and Vucinic came on for the last half hour, and Roma rapidly took control of the match. And, when the equalizer came 10 minutes later, it was from an assist by Vucinic, who laid the ball back to Mancini for the Brazilian to finish beautifully from the edge of the box. Roma kept the pressure on and had several chances to win the match, but Guily shot wide in the last few minutes, and De Rossi debutant Vitorino Antunes both had their late efforts saved. So the day ended the way it had started for Group F: United top, Roma second, and Sporting third.

(Will add a link to RomaChris’ detailed report when it goes up.)