Coppa Italia 1st Leg Roma 0-1 Inter Match Report & Reactions

Inter finally got the result they needed after 5 losses in a row, which puts them in a strong position to progress to the final after the second leg at the Guiseppe Meazza on the 11th May. Dejan Stankovic was the man to get the goal for the Nerazzurri with another superb long range effort from outside the box on the stroke of half time, this was in fact his 2nd goal of the game after his first got ruled out by a questionable refereeing decisions in the opening minutes. Both sides had their chances in the second half but the scoreline of 0-1 stayed the same. Inter looked by far the stronger side throughout the game but even saying that they were still no where near the level we know they are capable of, this win should however give them the confidence to finish the season on a good note, hopefully!!! My one criticism of the match was the fact that Leonardo paired Milito up front with Pandev instead of Pazzini the subbed Milito for Pazzini which is a shame as i was looking forward to seeing how Milito & Pazzini would play together but to be fair Pandev had a good game, he didn't score or have any particularly good shots on the goal but he did work hard bringing the ball into attack.

Match Report
FIRST HALF -



Leonardo went with Lucio and Ranocchia at the heart of the Nerazzurri defence, flanked by Maicon and Nagatomo; there was experience aplenty in midfield with Zanetti, Cambiasso and Stankovic, while Sneijder began in the hole behind strike pairing Milito and Pandev.

Inter immediately asserted themselves on the game and had most of the possession in the opening stages. Two minutes in, Sneijder tried his luck from range and got his effort on target but failed to really test Doni with it. Just a few moments later Inter should have been a goal up: Cambiasso's long ball forward induced Doni and Juan to make a mess of things allowing Stankovic to fire home unmarked, but the Serbian was harshly adjudged to have fouled Juan. However, it was Inter's turn to get lucky in the 9th minute when Vucinic managed to stab wide with the goal at his mercy, after Borriello's cross had gone beyond Julio Cesar at the near post. The Montenegro striker had another chance after a quarter of an hour but was again imprecise.


The Nerazzurri felt they had been hard done by once more in the 17th minute, when De Rossi's handball in the box went unseen by the referee. Lucio then had a header saved by Doni after 21 minutes before the Brazilian centre-back returned to doing his day job down the other end five minutes later, denying Perrotta with a fantastic acrobatic interception following Cassetti's cross. And he showed his worth again around the half hour mark with another timely tackle at full stretch to take the ball away from Borriello, a minute after De Rossi had fired an effort over.


Sneijder had another sight on goal in the 43rd minute but was unable to hit the target. Stankovic, however, definitely had his shooting boots on this evening and gave Inter the lead with an absoluter stonker of a goal: as the game ran into first-half stoppage time, the Serbian picked up Cambiasso's pass 25 yards out and struck a thunderous right-footed effort with the outside of his boot that curled into the top corner leaving Doni with no chance. After a minute's added time, the sides headed into the dressing rooms with the Nerazzurri a goal to the good.

SECOND HALF –



The second half began with the same twenty-two and tensions soon began to rise, Vucinic lashing out at Lucio with an elbow that was missed by the referee. With 53 minutes on the clock, Roma almost found themselves two goals down: Pandev met Stankovic's cross from the right and nodded goalwards, the ball came off Cassetti's back and Doni went walkabout; Sneijder played the ball back towards the empty goal only to see Cassetti hack clear with Pandev ready to pounce. The home side went close themselves in the 64th minute, when Perrotta was inches away from connecting with Taddei's cross. Stankovic called another handball by De Rossi in the box after 71 minutes, but the claims again fell on deaf ears. Sneijder went for goal once more with 10 minutes remaining and this time his cross hairs were centred but Doni was alert to it.


Roma upped the pressure as the game entered the final stages: Vucinic kept trying to find a way through and kept being shut out by the Nerazzurri rearguard. Then, in the 89th minute, Pazzini had a glorious chance to possibly put the tie beyond Roma's reach when Sneijder picked out his run behind the defence, but Doni did well to close down the angle. In injury time Vucinic again went looking for an equaliser, with Maicon on hand to snuff out the danger this time.


After 4 minutes of added time, Inter were able to celebrate an impressive victory that stands them in good stead for the second leg.

Roma 0-1 Inter (HT: 0-1)
Scorer: Stankovic 45.
Referee: Nicola Rizzoli (Bologna).
Booked: Taddei 5, Maicon 14, Burdisso 51, Ranocchia 57, Sneijder 59.
Added time: 1+4 minutes.

Lineups
Roma:
32 Doni; 77 Cassetti (Rosi 78), 29 N. Burdisso, 4 Juan, 17 Riise; 7 Pizarro, 16 De Rossi; 11 Taddei, 20 Perrotta (Simplicio 73), 9 Vucinic; 22 Borriello (Menez 63).
Unused subs: 1 Lobont, 3 Castellini, 15 Loria, 33 Brighi.
Coach: Vincenzo Montella.

Inter:



1 Julio Cesar; 13 Maicon, 6 Lucio, 15 Ranocchia, 55 Nagatomo; 4 Zanetti, 19 Cambiasso, 5 Stankovic (Mariga 90+4); 10 Sneijder; 27 Pandev (Obi 82), 22 Milito (Pazzini 75).
Unused subs: 12 Castellazzi, 14 Kharja, 23 Materazzi, 26 Chivu.
Coach: Leonardo.

Reactions

Leonardo

I still don't know why there was no pre match press conference published for this game but Leo did do one after the match.

"It was important to break the string of poor results. Many times it seems easy to do but it's not, because managing all the different factors in a match is never easy," began Leonardo when commenting on the first leg victory in the semi-final of the Coppa Italia against Roma.

The Nerazzurri coach continued: "The team did well to react and get the win, which is never a given here in the Stadio Olimpico. I witnessed an excellent management of the play over the first 90 minutes. Now there's the return leg at the San Siro, with everything still to play for."

The inevitable question arose about his future. However, Leonardo responded: "I have no worries about the future. I live for today and I don't even think about the rest; I live my own experience with the club and the president. We have a great rapport that is very open. What matters is finding the solutions to make the team win, as we saw this evening with an extraordinary goal from Stankovic – not to mention his fantastic performance. Pandev did excellent work to close down spaces and then restart in attack. Sneijder did a great job as well. The 4-4-1-1? We're always looking for the best way to face the game. The team in general was very good. Was Milito disappointed to come off? I don't really think so. Quite the opposite; his form is on the rise and he played a great game. In the second half, among other things, we had the chances to make it 2-0. But aside from that, the team responded well in general. Eto'o's condition? We have to evaluate over the next few days, as we do for other players."

Leonardo closed by commenting on the next few games facing the team: "Inter must try to maintain consistency; there have been defeats that took away our rhythm, but now we have to recover it, remaining calm and clear of mind. This evening was a test of maturity and clearness. I repeat, it wasn't easy to find the proper calmness to take on a semi-final. A test for the team? After Parma there were final judgements handed out when, in football, they are never final. Our duty was to break the string of poor results. However, I had never seen a team that was absent; at times they even had too much desire, and this was creating a bit of confusion."

Javier Zanetti

"An important victory in a stadium that is never easy. It followed a difficult moment, and I think that this evening Inter showed a great response." Javier Zanetti's comments to the microphones of Rai Sport after the Nerazzurri's 1-0 victory over Roma in the first leg of semi-finals of the Coppa Italia. "We played a great game against a tough opponent. It's never been easy to win here in Rome," continued the captain.

As to whether or not this result was a response to the many rumours going around in recent days speculating on the future of the coach, Zanetti explained in his closing statements: "I've always said that Leonardo is doing a great job. Let's forget about what's being said and focus on Saturday's match against Lazio."

Yuto Nagatomo



"We prepared the game with the captain. The team was very united; we wanted to win and we did." In a few simple words Yuto Nagatomo explained to Inter Channel how Inter were able to overcome Roma and win the first leg semi-final of the Coppa Italia.
"It was a very tough game but we never lost concentration and we earned a major victory. We can't think about being tired; we have to win every game that awaits us from here until the end of the season. My performance tonight? I think it went pretty well, but I still have to improve a lot," stated the Japanese full-back.

Dejan Stankovic



Another top performance, another goal to remember. Dejan Stankovic led Inter to a win in the first leg against Roma in the semi-final of the 2010-11 Coppa Italia, and he described the highs and lows of this evening's match to Inter Channel: "I'm happy for the win. We were coming out of a difficult period and we did it as a group and as a team. But when a team like Roma stands in your way you can't say that qualification is already secured."

Stankovic admitted: "There's regret for the league because we did so much to get to the derby. But we can't say anything bad about this team because it's a great team and it's difficult to win everything, every year. I believe that if we manage to qualify for the Champions League and win another trophy, then this current season could be considered a good one. If we look back a few years, we would have to remember that the Coppa Italia has always been a very important trophy for Inter."

Finally, a comment on the goals of Dejan Stankovic: "Never ordinary? [smiling] Well, let's just say they are rarely tap-ins... However, the most important thing is that the one tonight earned a victory for the team. Now we're preparing for the Lazio match with a low profile: compact and ready to set off again."

Conclusion

It's nice to have positive things to say about the team we love as they have been few and far between in recent weeks but the team played well last night (not their best but well enough) and it was great to see our defenders doing what they were supposed to, Ranocchia played very well stopping alot of Roma's runs but the man of the match for me was Lucio as he was back to his blistering best with forward runs & defended with determined & professional challenges. Now hopefully we can go into the Lazio game on Saturday with the same determination and improve even more.