After defeating Salzburg 2-1 in front of a raucous San Siro crowd on Tuesday, Inter Milan seized an unofficial lead in Group D of the Champions League.
Alexis Sanchez and Hakan Calhanoglu’s goals in either half were enough for Inter to move up to seven points, three more than Real Sociedad, who play at last-place Benfica later today.
Although Salzburg troubled the hosts and temporarily tied the score when Oscar Gloukh stroked home a beautiful finish in the 57th minute, Simone Inzaghi’s team had to work hard for the three points.
Regardless of how Sociedad do in Portugal, a four-point advantage between Inter and third-placed Salzburg increases the likelihood that Inter will advance to the knockout stages.
Inzaghi will also be encouraged by Sanchez’s performance because it shows that he can omit one of the star strikers, Lautaro Martinez, and Marcus Thuram without sacrificing the goal threat.
With a crucial Serie A match against Roma coming up at the weekend, Inzaghi unexpectedly chose the Chilean striker in place of Thuram, and left-back Federico Dimarco and Nicolo Barella were on the bench.
With 16 goals, Sanchez, 34, has now scored more goals than any other Chilean in Champions League history.
Inter almost took the lead in the 56th minute when Carlos Augusto flashed just wide, but seconds later Gloukh brought Salzburg level with a magnificent first-time finish reminiscent of Sanchez’s goal after wonderful play from Roko Simic and Maurits Kjaergaard.
When Strahinja Pavlovic and Lucas Gourna-Douath carelessly bundled over Frattesi, referee Francois Letexier promptly pointed to the penalty spot, but Inter quickly replied and regained the advantage.
With a perfect penalty kick, Calhanoglu scored what ended up being the game-winning goal to the right of Alexander Schlager.
In the 81st minute, Lautaro Martinez thought he had given Inter the victory, but the goal was disallowed because Frattesi had been offside when he flashed the low ball to the Argentina forward.