Rome (AFP)
The French “newcomer”, Marcus Thuram, returned his Inter team to the top of the Italian Football League, by scoring the hard-fought goal of victory over Roma 1-0, at the “San Siro” stadium, in the tenth stage, which witnessed another French brilliance in the person of the veteran Olivier Giroud, after… Milan put it in the lead against its host Napoli, the “defending champion,” 2-0, before the latter came back from afar to equalize 2-2.
Inter entered the match looking to regain the lead from Juventus, which won over Verona 1-0, but it seemed on its way to settling for a goalless draw against the team of Portuguese coach Jose Mourinho, before Thuram spoke at a crucial time in the match under the watchful eyes of his father Lilian, the 1998 World Cup champion.
Despite its advantage on the field and many opportunities, Inter struggled to reach the net against Roma, whose results have improved greatly recently, after winning five consecutive matches locally and continentally, before relief came at the hands of Thuram in the 81st minute, after a cross from Federico DeMarco, raising his score to four goals. In the league with the “Nerazzurri” shirt.
The match was Inter’s first confrontation against its former “traitorous” Belgian striker, Romelu Lukaku, who angered the club and the fans when he refused to sign his permanent transfer from Chelsea, and entered into negotiations with rivals Juventus and Milan, before eventually joining Roma.
Inter signed Thuram with the aim of replacing Lukaku, and he, who came from German Borussia Mönchengladbach, was in the best expectations of the club management, as he formed a striking attacking partnership with Argentine Lautaro Martinez (11 goals in the league), not only scoring four goals in the league, but also passing five decisive balls. .
Regarding his role as a replacement for Lukaku, who found himself under a barrage of offensive insults and boos, Thuram said, “I don’t think about this kind of thing. It was just a league match. We wanted to get the three points and we succeeded in that. I scored and helped the team win. I’m happy about that.” “I am not interested in anything else.”
With the eighth win this season, one of which was over its arch-neighbor Milan 5-1, coach Simone Inzaghi’s team raised its score to 25 points at the top, two points behind Juventus, and three ahead of Milan, which is tied in the south with Napoli, fourth with 18 points.
On the other hand, Roma’s score, which escaped from a second goal in the final seconds, after Brazilian substitute Carlos Augusto’s shot bounced off the crossbar (90), froze at 14 points in eighth place, after a match that ended its first half with 12 attempts on its goal without any chance for it. This is due to the absence of his suspended coach Mourinho, and the Argentine Paulo Dybala, Leonardo Spinazzola, Lorenzo Pellegrini, Portuguese Renato Sanchez, Englishmen Tammy Abraham and Chris Smalling, and Albanian Marash Kumbulla due to injuries.
Roma star Brian Cristante believed that the defensive plan that his team put in place against Inter could have almost succeeded had it not been for “a goal that could have been avoided,” adding to the Dazzon streaming network, after the match in which Inter also hit the crossbar at the beginning of the match with a shot by Turkish Hakan Calhanoglu, “ “We were a little lacking in energy, because we don’t have a lot of options at the moment.”
He said, “Our goal was to wait for Inter to “withstand their attacks,” and to hit them with counterattacks. It is unfortunate that we received this goal. The plan was to hold out, then beat them by reaching the final minutes. They scored a goal that we could have avoided, and after that it was difficult to get back on track. the correct”.
At the Diego Armando Maradona stadium, and in the absence of its top scorer, Nigerian Victor Osimhen, due to injury, Napoli did not benefit from the support of its fans to take revenge on Milan in the first confrontation between the two teams since the quarter-finals of the Champions League last season, when the Rossoneri won the first leg 1-0. The return match was tied 1-1.
But the southern team was able to at least save a point, and avoid a third of the season, by compensating for a two-goal deficit, without a complete comeback, in order to achieve its first victory among its fans over Milan since August 2018.
And against a team coming off two consecutive defeats to its rival Juventus 0-1 in the last stage and Paris Saint-Germain 0-3 in the Champions League, Napoli found itself behind in the 24th minute with a header by Giroud, after a cross from the American Christian Pulisic, and then after failing to translate… Two chances for Matteo Politano and the Portuguese Mario Rui. The southern team’s task was complicated by receiving the second goal through another header from Giroud, after a cross from Davide Calabria this time (31), raising its score to 6 goals in the league this season.
Life returned to Naples at the beginning of the second half, thanks to Politano, who reduced the difference, after a wonderful individual effort, as he manipulated the Dutchman, Tijani Reynders, and then the Frenchman, Theo Hernandez, before he shot against the latter’s compatriot, Mike Manian (50).
The return of the team of French coach Rudi Garcia was complete, after they equalized in the 63rd minute from a wonderful free kick by Giacomo Raspadori, and then the result remained the same until the end, which saw the Brazilian Natan sent off, after a foul on the Argentine Luca Romero (89), so the southern team completed the match with ten players. .
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