On Wednesday, November 24th, 2021 Inter Milan’s long – term veteran striker, Edin Džeko, netted 2 – goals in order to lead Inter reach the Champions League knockout – stage for the very 1st time in approximately 10 – years as Inter Milan defeated Shakhtar Donetsk with a final tally of 2 to 0.
Dzeko’s 2 – spur performance occurred in just a 6 – minute span in the 2nd half. Inter enjoyed dominating Shakhtar for the majority of the match, but they were let down due to a poor closing effort. Shakhtar Donetsk’ brilliant goal – tender, Anatoliy Trubin, came up with very timely and impressive saves as well.
Inter Milan previously disallowed 2 – goals, and I. Milan’s head coach, Simone Inzaghi, emotionally celebrated Džeko’s opening strike.
“It was an important night,” says Inzaghi, who took control of Inter Milan from Antonio Conte over the last offseason. “It’s the first thing I said in my first press conference. It’s been 10 years since Inter was in the last 16 and the fans, the club deserve it.
“It was an aim I had from the beginning and the players think the same as me,” Inzaghi goes on to say. “After the first half went the way, it did, with a superb goalkeeper, I had an exuberant celebration.”
The Italian elite are the 2nd football club in Group D of the Champions League qualifiers, just 2 – points behind Real Madrid F. C., who just so happened to defeat Sheriff with the final score of 3 to 0 the past Wednesday. With Sheriff’s recent loss to Inter Milan, they remain with just 6 – points and is unable to advance. Inter Milan will next have to travel to Madrid for their last game of the Champions League qualifying – stage.
Shakhtar will now end up at the bottom of the barrel.
Inter Milan began with a strong jump in their pace, but was again guilty of eventually wasting good scoring chances. Nicolò Barella had the most efficient goal opportunity of the early stages of this one, but Barella struck from over approximately 10 – yards as he slipped while trying hard to reach the ball with a full – effort attempt.
The home side had a disastrous spell coming with 5 – chances in only 4 – minutes of game play. Barella sprinted downfield from the midfield area as he cut back inside with a fake prior to rolling a sweet cross for Lautaro Martínez, but Maycon disrupted that flow with a picture -perfect timed slide – tackle.
The Inter Milan defenseman, Andrea Ranocchia, headed the following corner kick just by the right post of the goal and just a few moments later Ivan Perišić popped a goal that ended up being ruled out by officials for offside in the attempt’s buildup.
Trubin then blocked 2 – shots in consecutive fashion in order to fail Edin Džeko, Trubin seems to be the footballer that increasingly proves his strong value and worth as a promising goal – tender out in Europe.
Inter had another disallowed goal during the 57th minute of play as Martínez’s volley was ruled out of bounds for a pushing violation on the Shakhtar defender Mykola Matviyenko.
Inter did take the lead moments later though as Perišić stormed downfield on the left flank, and he crossed the ball over to Matteo Darmian, whose attempt was blocked but the quick – attacking Džeko thumped in the bounce out from the edge.
Džeko doubled his efforts in the 67th minute as he pushed Inter into advancement after he netted his second of the day putting Inter Milan up 2 to 0.
Shakhtar almost got one back in the dying minutes of the match but Dodô’s shot attempt bounced off of the base off the right post and ultimately rolled parallel to the goal line before going out for a corner kick that didn’t amount to very much. Inter Milan dominated this one folks!
Sources:
Matar, Daniella. “Džeko nets 2 to help Inter advance to CL knockout stage”. The Associated Press. November 23, 2021.
