Inter Milan maintained their perfect record in this season’s Champions League with Wednesday’s 2-1 win over spirited minnows Kairat Almaty at the San Siro. Carlos Augusto saved Inter’s blushes with a thumping low drive in the 67th minute which ensured a fourth win from as many games in the league phase. The Italians have a great chance of reaching the last 16 of Europe’s elite club competition as they sit third, level on 12 points with leaders Bayern Munich and Arsenal.
Last season 16 points were enough for a top-eight finish, meaning four points from their four remaining fixtures could be enough for direct qualification.
That is good news for Inter who have a fiendish run of fixtures to close their league phase campaign, including clashes at the San Siro with Liverpool and Premier League leaders Arsenal.
Inter will certainly need a better display when they travel to Atletico Madrid later this month after doing just enough to see off Kairat, who acquitted themselves well in a landmark fixture for the club from Kazakhstan.
“There are no easy games in the Champions League, we didn’t play our best but we managed to win,” said Carlos Augusto to Amazon Prime Video.
“We know how good we are but we need to show it every time we go out onto the pitch.”
Ofri Arad cancelled out Lautaro Martinez’s opener nine minutes after half-time and the away side had Inter sweating even after Carlos Augusto smashed in his first goal of the season.
Kairat have just one point to show for their efforts in their debut Champions League campaign but all is not lost with three points separating them from the play-off positions.
Inter dominate
Rafael Urazbakhtin’s team face Copenhagen, Olympiakos and Club Brugge before travelling to London to take on Arsenal in their last fixture.
Inter predictably dominated the play and could easily have been two or three ahead before Martinez eventual gave Inter the lead shortly before the break.
Martinez was denied by the second stop of a double save from Temirlan Anarbekov in the 10th minute and five minutes later lifted a great opportunity over the bar after being perfectly set up by Piotr Zielinski.
Yann Bisseck thought he had won Inter a penalty in the 19th minute when he fell under a challenge from Ofri Arad, but referee Luis Godinho overturned his decision after checking the pitchside monitor.
From there Inter started to get frustrated and struggled to break down Kairat, who nearly took a shock lead in the 44th minute when Dastan Satpayev’s shot took a wicked deflection off Stefan De Vrij and skimmed the crossbar.
Martinez netted his 160th Inter goal seconds later, bundling home at the second attempt after his first shot was blocked, breaking Kairat’s resistance.
But the home crowd were stunned into silence when Arad charged in unopposed to head Kairat level as Inter dozed at a corner and conceded for the first time in this season’s Champions League.
The impressive Anarbekov did brilliantly to keep out Pio Esposito and it took Carlos Augusto to stop Kairat from escaping the San Siro with what would probably have been the biggest result in their history.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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