Inter picked up three much-needed Champions League points away at Viktoria Plzen on Tuesday night, getting their first win in this season’s competition. Simone Inzaghi had seen his Nerazzurri lose 2-0 at home to Bayern Munich in their opening game of the European season.
The hosts were returning to Europe’s elite club competition after a four-year spell away from the Champions League, but now having lost to both Barcelona and Inter it looks as though even Europa League qualification through a third-place finish in the group is even too much for them to hope for.
Inter’s bright start leads to Dzeko opening the scoring at Viktoria Plzen
Francesco Acerbi had a chance to enjoy a dream start to life at Inter when he poked a hopeful early effort at goal, but the height of the ball made it hard for him to do much more than guiding it towards the net. It was easily saved.
But Inter led before the half was at its midway point. A ball from the right found Robin Gosens who controlled well and found Joaquin Correa. He, in turn, fed Edin Dzeko on the left and the no.9 placed it back across goal and into the bottom corner to open the scoring. Dzeko had another chance shortly before half-time but saw his shot saved.
Inter make the most of a numerical advantage
Pavel Bucha was shown a red card after the hour mark for a poor challenge on Nicolo Barella. Initially shown a red card, VAR intervened and that was then upgraded to red.
Inter made their numerical upper-hand count and Denzel Dumfries doubled their lead within 10 minutes. Correa set Dzeko off on a counterattack and as he joined his strike partner at the edge of the box, the Bosnian instead slipped the ball to Dumfries on the right who set himself up and finished.
That was where the scoring stopped, with Andre Onana having to make a late save to keep a clean sheet.
