SHENZHEN - A youthful Inter side succumbed to a sensational goal from Philippe Mexes as AC Milan won this year's opening International Champions Cup China fixture in Shenzhen today.
As promised, Roberto Mancini opted to hand playing time to many of the Primavera youngsters he had brought on tour with him and they handled themselves admirably in the first half, but could do nothing when the veteran French defender settled the encounter with a once-in-a-lifetime strike after the break.
In a heated derby atmosphere in China, Milan started the better of the two with M'Baye Niang doing well to make inroads on the right. On 17 minutes Marco Andreolli had to stand tall to thwart Alessandro Matri. Moments later at the other end of the pitch Enrico Baldini sped past Davide Calabria and cut back for the cross, but Samuele Longo wasn't alert enough in the middle.
Then, with Assane Gnoukouri pulling the strings, Inter's play started to become more fluid. He played in Davide Santon on 20 minutes who had two attempts to score, but he couldn't find his range and blasted over. Gnoukouri then found Longo in the 39th minute with an excellent long ball, but the number 12 was unable to carve an opening.
There was a nervous moment for Inter on 41 minutes when Matri broke the offside trap and crossed it into the danger area, where Santon was luckily on hand with a textbook clearance. Before the end of the first half there was time for Longo to put the ball in the back of the net. Unfortunately referee Tan Hai had already blown up for offside.
Inter pushed on after the restart and Yuto Nagatomo worked room for a shot that was comfortably saved by Christian Abbiati. The Nerazzurri were on top at this point with Pedro Delgado driving the team forward, but a corner was the best they could show for their efforts. 60 minutes arrived and Mancini rang the changes; Santon, Delgado, Dimarco and Baldini came off, to be replaced by Hernanes, Icardi, Kondogbia and Brozovic.
A minute later Milan bounced back and Carlos Bacca, who had also just come on, gave Juan Pablo Carrizo something to think about. However, there was nothing the Argentine goalkeeper could do in the 63rd minute when Mexes scored a wonderful volley from outside the area, completely lighting up the game.
When he came on, Mauro Icardi tried to use his pace to get past Cristian Zapata, but Milan held firm. The midfield was reshuffled with Geoffrey Kondogbia and Marcelo Brozovic coming on and the intensity of Inter's pressing increased. The Frenchman actually had a great attempt on goal, yet was unable to draw the game level. As it was, Inter's final push wasn't enough. Anderson Hernanes had a chance in the dying minutes of the game but was unable to finish off Brozovic's assist and the result stayed 1-0.
The Nerazzurri will now travel to Guangzhong for their second and final ICC match against Real Madrid in two days' time.
Inter 0-1 AC Milan (HT 0-0)
Scorer: Mexes 18.
Inter: 30 Carrizo (46 Berni 78); 21 Santon (33 D'Ambrosio 59; 5 Juan Jesus 78), 6 Andreolli, 56 Popa (23 Ranocchia 78), 55 Nagatomo (13 Guarin 78); 27 Gnoukouri (10 Kovacic 78), 19 Taider (7 Kondogbia 59); 92 Baldini (9 Icardi 60), 44 Delgado (88 Hernanes 59), 93 Dimarco (77 Brozovic 60); 12 Longo (8 Palacio 78).
Subs not used: 1 Handanovic, 14 Montoya.
Coach: Roberto Mancini.
AC Milan: 23 Lopez (32 Abbiati 46); 96 Calabria (39 Paletta 78), 33 Alex (5 Mexes 46), 15 Ely (17 Zapata 46), 2 De Sciglio (31 Antonelli 46); 16 Poli (4 Mauri 46), 34 De Jong (18 Montolivo 46), 91 Bertolacci (22 Nocerino 46) ; 10 Honda (28 Bonaventura 46); 78 Niang (9 Luiz Adriano 60), 21 Matri (70 Bacca 60).
Subs not used: 11 Cerci, 66 Gori, 8 Suso.
Coach: Sinisa Mihajlovic.
Booked: Paletta (84), Guarin (90+1), Montolivo (90)
Sent off: Nocerino (88)
Referee: Tan Hai.
Assistants: Mu Yuxing, Alamusi.
Fourth official: Ai Kun.
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