February 23, (THEWILL) – Inter Milan secured a crucial 1-0 away win against FC Porto in the first leg of the UEFA Champions League Round of 16.
Both teams had chances to score early in the game and Porto goalkeeper, Diogo Costa, needed to make several important saves to keep his side in the game until the unfortunate sending off of Otavio for a second yellow card.
Inter Milan started the game without some of their key players, including Romelu Lukaku and Marcelo Brozovic. Yet, they still created some dangerous moments in the first half, with Federico Dimarco and Lautaro Martinez coming close to scoring.
Porto also had their chances. Mehdi Taremi and Evanilson threatened the Inter goal as the tension heated up. The tension boiled over and some heated exchanges between the players, including a dispute between Inter goalkeeper, Andre Onana and Porto striker, Edin Dzeko, marred the game.
In the second half, Inter continued to push forward, with Nicolò Barella and Lukaku causing problems for the Porto defence. The breakthrough finally came in the 74th minute, when Lukaku headed it onto the post and reacted the quickest to score a valuable away goal. The second leg will take place on March 14 in Milan.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
