Inter secured a last-gasp Champions League win over Tottenham Hotspur, but how did they fare in the Football Italia player ratings?
Words: Tom Scholes
Inter secured a last-gasp Champions League win over Tottenham Hotspur, but how did they fare in the Football Italia player ratings?
Words: Tom Scholes
Samir Handanovic – 6
The veteran goalkeeper will probably feel as if he could have done better than he did on Christian Eriksen’s goal, but in fairness to Handanovic, the scoreline would have been very different were it not for him. He did well to deny Harry Kane the space he wanted to try and round him in the first half, and at multiple times in the second 45 minutes he did well to close down space in front of Erik Lamela to prevent a cross reaching Kane or Eriksen in the middle.
Stefan de Vrij – 5
Tonight was the kind of night where you’d expect De Vrij to step up to the mark and deliver a top drawer performance, but while he didn’t make any mistakes, he didn’t really make an impression on the match at all. At times the game passed him by as Spurs played down the wings, and not really managing to deliver crosses into the box rendered the Dutchman practically irrelevant. He certainly wasn’t terrible, but he was hardly involved for the majority of the game.
Miranda – 5
Similar to his centre-back partner, Miranda was hardly involved but he did make one vital contribution to this game – he deflected Eriksen’s shot from outside of the box over Handanovic for the Spurs goal. While that wasn’t something he could really do anything about, he didn’t make much of an impact, like De Vrij.
Milan Skriniar – 6
Skriniar did quite well out of position. He did get burned a couple of times by Lucas Moura in the second half, but he kept Heung Min Son in his pocket for the first half. Was he at his usual level? No, but for a centre-back playing up against two players that could cause most defenders problems, he held himself quiet well and didn’t make any errors that proved fatal.
Kwadwo Asamoah – 5
One could be forgiven for forgetting that Asamoah was playing tonight, but he did pop up with the game’s most important cross, the ball from the left hand side to find Mauro Icardi on the edge of the box. He was largely out of proceedings for part of the game but you could tell at times that his Champions League experience played into the game. He dealt with Serge Aurier well, at least at times, and while he could have done much better, the Ghanaian was solid.
Marcelo Brozovic – 5
A rather hit and miss game for the Croatian, who popped in and out of the match and didn’t really affect the game too much. He was tidy in the first-half but was, at times, non existent in the second. Until the final 10 or so minutes he was dominated in the midfield and while an Inter win will paper over some of these cracks tonight, let’s not forget he wasn’t exactly at his best.
Matias Vecino – 6
Not a bad way to start your Champions League campaign! He was there, in the right place at the right time, to head home Inter’s winner and give them their first win in the Champions League for quite some time. Winning goal aside, he did fairly well during this game and was one of the brightest players in the first half, but went missing in the second half before, of course, scoring the winning goal.
Matteo Politano – 6.5
A very tricky player and one that Inter tried to get involved and when he was driving at Ben Davies. He caused the Spurs full-back problems, but ultimately didn’t really do enough to create any kind of major danger for Inter. He petered out in the second half, but his pace and energy was always a danger.
Radja Nainggolan – 6
Playing in an advanced in behind Eric Dier and Mousa Dembele, Nainggolan was meant to be the main creative force for Inter but spent a lot of his game battling Dier and taking the ball off of his compatriot Dembele. He could have been a much bigger part of this game if he had been allowed the time on the ball to get his head up and drive at the Spurs defence, but he still looked somewhat dangerous on the odd occasion.
Ivan Perisic – 6
It was very strange to bring off Perisic, who at the time was the most dangerous player for Inter at the time, but in the end it woked. Did Antonio Candreva add more to the game than Perisic? Nope. Perisic did play quite well when he was on the pitch, but he was somewhat wasteful with his chances. Could he have done better? Yes, which is probably why Spalletti withdrew him when he did.
Mauro Icardi – 6.5
Remember when the BT Sport pundits were talking about how they were disappointed in Mauro Icardi? Well, if there was ever a time to prove them wrong, it was the way Icardi did tonight. His goal was sensational, but I don’t honestly believe his overall game was that bad. Yes, he was absent from most of Inter’s play but at the same time, how can you expect a player like Icardi to do everything? He tried to drop deep to bring Politano and Perisic into the game, which he did well, but that meant he had to vacate a spot in the area and hang around the edge of the box. And for most of the game, it didn’t work out so well for Icardi but on the one occasion it did, he did it to perfection. It was a good performance for Icardi, regardless of what some pundits might say.
Subs:
Antonio Candreva for Perisic – 4.5
Keita Balde for Politano – N/A
Borja Valero for Nainggolan – N/A