Oviri Kelvin, Sports Editor, Abuja
Inter Milan missed a golden opportunity to topple neighbouring side AC Milan on the Serie A table yesterday in a game against relegation-threatened side Genoa.
The second-placed Nerazzurri were held to a goalless draw in the Stadio Luigi Ferraris in a clash that could have given Simone Inzaghi’s team the edge to capitalise on the slip by the league leaders after they had played a 1-1 draw with Udinese at the Stadio San Siro.
The visiting Udinese, who were trailing behind AC Milan after Rafael Leao converted an assist by Sandro Tonali in the 29th minute, responded likewise in the 66th minute with a superb finish from Hellas Verona’s loanee Iyenoma Destiny Udogie through an assist provided by Roberto Pereyra.
The Italy-born Nigeria citizen, I.D Udogie has played in almost all the youths’ phases of football for Italy right from his debut match in 2018 for Italy U16 where he was capped two times before being promoted to Italy U17, U18, U19, and presently in the U21 side.
Inter Milan, one game less and two points behind the Rossoneri, have 55 points from 27 games. In the game against Genoa, Inter recorded 20 shots against the relentless Grifone in which only four were on target, nine off-target, and 7 were blocked.
Speaking after the match, the Inter Milan boss Simone Inzaghi stated that the players, despite creating a lot of chances and shots on goal, could not convert them usefully into goals.
Read More: Inter Milan fail to capitalise on AC Milan’s draw
He said that in both games with Sassuolo and Genoa, Inter created a total of forty shots but could not score and urged the players to do more because the team deserved better.
“What was missing tonight? The episode was missing to get the game going, between Sassuolo and Genoa we had 40 shots on goal and we didn’t manage to score.
“It’s a moment in which we have to do more because we can’t win, but today we built a lot and conceded little. We deserved more, but that’s the way it went today,” he said.
Inzaghi, who advised that the team must not get too anxious, praised the team’s performance while also acknowledging that the Nerazzurri’s fans were amazing in cheering the team from the start of the game to the end.
He said, “We are just missing a victory, we would surely have deserved it tonight for what we did. We had a great desire to return to the top with our wonderful fans who have encouraged us from start to finish tonight as well. We must not get anxious. but stay calm and go back to doing what we did well before.”
“On Tuesday we have the semi-final, it’s an important match and we care a lot about it. We have to be good at recovering physical and mental strength in view of this match against Milan,” he added.
After the Coppa Italia semi-final clash with Milan on Tuesday, Inter will face the bottom side Salernitana at the Giuseppe Meazza on March 4 to continue their Serie A campaign.
