|
Dejan Stankovic earned 10-man Inter a point after a disastrous start at Rubin Kazan and Mario Balotelli's red card.
The pressure was starting to build on Jose Mourinho after Saturday's 1-0 defeat at Sampdoria, while he hadn't won any of his last six Champions League games. The 0-0 home draw with Barcelona in Matchday 1 was a creditable result, but Diego Milito, Wesley Sneijder and Sulley Muntari were injured, so Amantino Mancini and Mario Balotelli completed the trident attack. This was Rubin Kazan's first home Champions League group game and they were without the suspended Macbeth Sibaya, so Noboa moved to centre-midfield.
Rubin had a strong start and pinned Inter back into their own half for the opening stages, Alejandro Dominguez hitting a free kick into the wall and Lucio charging down Sergei Semak's shot.
The home side took a deserved lead 11 minutes in with a classic counter. Dominguez picked the ball up in midfield, sprinted past Lucio and went wide to avoid Walter Samuel's tackle so he could smash the left-foot finish under the bar from nine yards.
Julio Cesar fingertipped a Dominguez free kick over, but the Nerazzurri finally created a chance after 17 minutes when a corner was cleared to the edge of the box for Lucio to drill wide.
It was so nearly 2-0 when Dominguez put a free kick to the back post for Cesar Navas to turn a free header over, as Lucio was caught out.
Balotelli and Samuel went into the book early on. Samuel Eto'o made his first contribution to the game, turning in the box only for goalkeeper Sergei Ryzhikov to slam the door from point-blank range.
Eto'o created a good opportunity on the counter with his through ball for Mancini, but it got caught under the Brazilian's feet. The move continued and Inter equalised when a cross was put back in from Douglas Maicon on the right for Stankovic's diving header. The Serb was left totally unmarked at the back post.
A Balotelli spin and curler nearly turned it all around moments later, but cracked the crossbar towards the far top corner of the net thanks to a fingertip save. It would've been a stunning goal from the Under-21 international.
Aleksandr Bukharov and Eto'o just failed to make contact on balls across the face of goal from Cristian Ansaldi and Mancini respectively. Lucio had to dive in and clear a Dominguez through ball before it could reach Bukharov.
Cristian Chivu had to perform a crucial tackle to stop another very dangerous Rubin move on the stroke of half-time. Inter also had a chance, Lucio placing an angled drive wide when he should've cut back for Eto'o.
It was a slower start to the second half, but tehre was a scare on the hour mark when Bukharov fell in the box, but the referee waved play on, as he seemed to go to ground at the slightest contact from Samuel.
There was a blow for Inter moments later, as Balotelli received a second yellow card and left his team to play the final half-hour with 10 men. This is certainly not the first time in his career that SuperMario has let his temper get the better of him, bringing down Noboa in a very late challenge.
Esteban Cambiasso, playing his 50th Champions League game, had a shot charged down, then Samuel had to barge Dominguez off the ball. Ricardo Quaresma replaced the ineffective Mancini for a 4-3-2 system.
Julio Cesar got down well to push an Ansaldi daisy-cutter round the far post and Bukharov's fresh-air shot saved Inter. Stankovic fired over after Lucio went on the counter, but at the other end Aleksandr Ryazanstev caused panic in the box when he dribbled between three players only to pull wide.
Julio Cesar needed two touches to control a fierce Dominguez free kick, but on 79 minutes Bukharov's header squirmed inches past the far post with the Inter shot-stopper rooted to the spot.
Patrick Vieira replaced Cambiasso, but Inter were now under siege. A corner was not cleared properly and eventually fell to the back post, but Semak smacked his shot against the upright from six yards!
Samuel couldn't keep his header down from a Maicon free kick, but stoppages saw crosses rain into the Nerazzurri penalty area.
<Post-Match Comments
|
