Fiorentina v Inter: Impressive Nerazzurri

By: Martha | December 2nd, 2007

Good saves, dawg. Great performance, great result for Inter; frustration and disappointment for the Viola who, after having a lot of the game in the first half, were just played off the pitch in the second. In the opening 45 minutes, Fiorentina had the majority of possession and were around the Inter box a lot, the problem was that most of the balls played in were lobs at which everyone had a chance, rather than incisive passes to feet. Nevertheless, they forced Julio Cesar into several saves, and were terrible unlucky once, when Adrian Mutu failed to connect with a volley once, scuffed it a second time, and had his shot knocked down on his third try. (When the play ended, there were literally four Inter players lying on the ground in front of him, having thrown themselves one by one at his attempts.)

At the other end, Inter didn’t have many chances, but they clinically finished the ones they did and were up 1-0 in the 10th minute, when Luis Jimenez finished off a lovely one-two with Zlatan by slotting the ball home. Jimenez who, despite being the only true attacking mid at Inter, has been buried on the bench this season, finally got the start I’ve been sending memos to Roberto Mancini about and performed beautifully — hopefully this is a sign of things to come, and not just Mancio scraping bottom because of midfield injuries. (Though, speaking of, when Olivier Dacourt limped off after 25 minute with a leg injury, Cristian Chivu went into the midfield AGAIN.) The second goal, also assisted by Ibrahimovic, came from Julio Cruz just before the end of the half, when he gathered his strike partner’s pass and beat Sebastian Frey off the inside of the post.

Cesare Prandelli went for the win, sending on Martin Jorgensen and Bobo Veiri at the start of the second half (for the ineffective Kuzmanovic and the only intermittently useful Pazzini), and adding Santana for Liverani just before the hour mark, the latter an attacking winger in place of a deep-sitting playmaker. It was all for naught, however, as Inter cruised through the half with the great majority of possession. Even when the Viola managed to get hold of the ball, the visitors defended comfortably in a very crowded box, and were only really threatened by an early, off-target volley by Vieri and a late effort from Franco Semioli, which was kept out only by a sick, sick leg save by Julio Cesar.

Though they mostly just possessed the ball, stroking it around in the midfield, Inter did have some great chances in the second half, all of which were snuffed out by Frey. The most impressive was an amazing double save on Zlatan from a wide angle, which Frey followed up by stoning him again only minutes later. (Even Zlatan gave the keeper a fist pound, so you know it was good.)

Also: The match opened with a moment of silence for Manuele Prandelli, and ended with the Viola fans singing tribute to her husband, who gathered bouquets and roses off the top of the dugout as he left the pitch. It was surely a very difficult match for the coach and all of his players, and their supporters were pure class throughout, as they always are.