Curated By: Vivek Ganapathy
Last Updated: August 01, 2023, 17:55 IST
United States of America (USA)
Inter Milan beat PSG 2-1 in their re-season friendly in Japan. (Twitter)
Sebastiano Esposito and Stefano Sensi scored for Inter as the Italians completed a come-from-behind win over Luis Enrique’s PSG, who went ahead through Vitinha, but couldn’t hold onto their advantage.
Inter Milan earned a massive come-from-behind win against French champions PSG as the Italian giants registered a 2-1 win over the Parisian team in their pre-season friendly in Japan on Tuesday.
Substitutes Sebastiano Esposito and Stefano Sensi scored for Inter to complete the turnaround after PSG went ahead through Vitinha strike.
PSG’s Portuguese midfielder Vitinha’s strike from outside the box gave the Parisians the lead.
But, Sebastian Esposito, who had come on as a substitute in the 77th minute, required just four minutes on the field to restore parity in the encounter as he scored the leveller.
Stefan Sensi completed the turnaround for Inter as he scored two minutes after the equaliser to give Inter the advantage for the first time in the game, which the Italian managed to hold on to.
New PSG boss Luis Enrique opted to start Gianluigi Donnarumma in goal behind the defensive setup comprising Achraf Hikimi, Marquinhos, Milan Skriniar and Lucas Hernandez.
The young midfield pairing of Manuel Ugarte and Warren Zaire Emery started in the middle of the park alongside Fabian Ruiz, while Vitinha, Marco Asensio and Carlos Soler started in the front.
While Simeone Inzhagi, the Inter boss started Filip Stankovis in between the posts and started with a back three of Alessandro Bastoni, Francesco Acerbi and Matteo Darmian in defence while Federico Dimarco and Denzel Dumfries were deployed on the flanks.
Henrik Mkhitaryan, Hakan Calhanoglu and Nicolo Barella started in the middle of the field with Argentine Lautaro Martinez and new recruit Marcus Thuram starting up front.
The sides played out a goalless first half, which prompted many to think if we could see multiple changes at the beginning of the second half, but both coaches resisted the urge to change their lineups and fielded the same lineup after the break.
Inter were the first to make substitutions as they brought on Juan Cuadrado, Davide Frattesi, Robin Gosens and Joaquin Correa in place of Dumfries, Mkhitaryan, Dimarco and Thuram after 55 minutes of play.
Vitinha broke the deadlock in the 62nd minute of the game as he hit the target from way out with his long-range effort that ended up in the back of the net to give PSG the advantage.
Layvin Kurzawa replaced Hernandez a while after the opener for PSG, while Kristjan Asllani and Stefan de Vrij came on for Calhanoglu and Bastoni.
PSG brought in more reinforcements in the form of Danilo Perrera, Hugo Ekitike and Cher Ndour to replace Marquinhos, Asensio and Ruiz after 70 minutes of the game.
Inter’s Acerbi was withdrawn in favour of Yabb Aurel Bisseck as Inter went chasing the elusive leveller with just under 20 minutes of regulation time remaining.
Their calls were answered as Esposito, who replaced Martinez netted in the 81st minute of the game. Sensi, who came on for Barella put Inter ahead to seal a big win.
