Inter Milan made it two wins from two in the UEFA Champions League (UCL) by beating Slavia Prague 3-0 at the San Siro, with defeat stretching Slavia’s winless away run against Italian opposition in major European competition to nine matches.
It was evident from the get-go that this game would be largely one-way traffic towards the Slavia goal, but the Czechs were unwilling to roll over for their illustrious hosts. Inter piled on the pressure in the opening stages, yet couldn’t translate their territorial dominance into sightings of the Slavia goal.
It took them until midway through the first half to even muster a half chance, and even when they did, the wasteful Lautaro Martínez could only head narrowly over from six yards out.
The diminutive Argentine was proving difficult to pin down, and he was handed the opening goal on a silver plate.
Visiting goalkeeper Jindrich Stanek underhit a pass to David Zima inside his own box, and Martínez nipped in to score arguably the easiest goal he’ll ever score in his career.
Once Slavia’s resistance was broken, the Nerazzurri began to move through the gears. It didn’t take them long to double their advantage either, as Marcus Thuram jinked his way to the byline and cut the ball back for Denzel Dumfries to tap into an empty net from a matter of yards.
Inter’s onslaught didn’t stop at the break, and they continued with their foot firmly to the floor after the break. Only some heroic defending from Stepan Chaloupek kept Slavia’s faint hopes of a comeback alive, as he slid in at the last second to clear Petar Sucic’s effort off the line after he’d rounded Stanek.
Incessant Inter pressure was always likely to tell eventually, and it did so midway through the second half. In probing to find a way back into the game, Slavia were hit on the counter, with a free-flowing move involving Thuram and Alessandro Bastoni ending in the latter rolling the ball across the six-yard line for Martínez to turn home.
A raft of changes followed as Inter boss Cristian Chivu perhaps had half an eye on the weekend’s game against Cremonese, and those substitutes did stifle the Nerazzurri’s momentum a little.
Slavia’s attacking offerings were few and far between all evening, and it took them until the 80th minute to test Yann Sommer in the Inter goal when Muhammed Cham’s long-range strike was easily kept out by the Inter stopper.
Even conceding wouldn’t have taken much gloss off for Inter, who have won their opening two UCL league phase games and know that every team that opened last season’s league phase with two successive victories reached the knockouts.
Slavia don’t have much time to dwell on tonight’s defeat, as they have a weekend clash with city rivals Sparta Prague to look forward to.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Lautaro Martinez (Inter)