GUANGZHOU – Inter slipped to a 0-3 defeat at the hands of Real Madrid in Guangzhou this evening as the Nerazzurri’s pre-season tour of China drew to a close.
There was a frenetic start to the match, as Roberto Mancini’s side raced out of the blocks in search of an early goal. The contest was barely two minutes old when Hernanes lofted in a perfect cross for Mauro Icardi, but the Argentine was unable to apply the telling finish. Seconds later, on four minutes, Mateo Kovacic drove hard at the Madrid defence, offloading to Palacio who again crossed in to Maurito, but the chance went begging once more.
The early storm weathered, Madrid rallied to create some chances of their own. First Jese almost finished off a break from Los Blancos only to see his shot trickle wide, then Cristiano Ronaldo fired a shot just past the post.
Not to be perturbed, the Nerazzurri went straight back on the offensive, with Keylor Navas forced to rush out to thwart some impressive link-up play between Icardi and Hernanes. Down the other end, Ronaldo and Handanovic were locked in a personal duel, with super Samir pulling off a great save to deny the Portuguese from one of his trademark free-kicks.
Kovacic was the hub of everything good about Mancini’s side, bursting forward and creating space with his effortless change of pace. Yet for all of Inter’s good work in the first half an hour, it was Madrid who took the lead on 29 minutes. Jese collected the ball in the Nerazzurri box, buying himself a yard of space from Murillo with some expert control and slotting past Handanovic and into the net.
It was a blow for Inter and there followed a lull as they looked to regroup after the breathless start. But regroup they did, and Keylor Navas was forced to deny Kovacic’s left-footed strike and Hernanes’ curling free-kick before the referee brought down the curtain on the first half.
Denis Cheryshev had the first chance after the break, but his long-range effort posed little threat to Handanovic’s goal. On 55 minutes, Ranocchia had a great chance to haul Inter level, but his header failed to find the net.
Real added a second soon after as Varane headed home a Lucas Vazquez cross in the 57th minute to make it 0-2. Guarin looked to pull one back straight away, but after exchanging passes with Icardi the Colombian’s shot was wayward.
An array of substitutions followed for both sides. One of the new arrivals, James Rodriguez, came close to making it 0-3 with a free-kick that Handanovic did well to put behind for a corner. Yet it proved to be merely delaying the inevitable as Rodriguez curled home another free-kick to add the gloss to Madrid’s win.
INTER 0-3 REAL MADRID
Scorers: Jese 29, Varane 66, James Rodriguez 89.
INTER: 1 Handanovic; 14 Montoya (Santon 67), 23 Ranocchia (Popa 82), 24 Murillo (Andreolli 67), 5 Juan Jesus (Nagatomo 82); 77 Brozovic (Gnoukouri 53), 10 Kovacic (D'Ambrosio 82), 7 Kondogbia (Taider 82); 88 Hernanes (Guarin 66); 8 Palacio (Longo 67), 9 Icardi.
Subs not used: 30 Carrizo, 46 Berni, 44 Delgado, 92 Baldini, 93 Dimarco.
Coach: Roberto Mancini.
REAL MADRID: 1 Keylor Navas (Casilla 58); 23 Danilo (Carvajal 62), 3 Pepe (Varane HT), 4 Sergio Ramos (Nacho HT), 12 Marcelo (Arbeloa 63); 8 Kroos (Lucas Silva 62), 14 Casemiro (M.Llorente 78); 7 Ronaldo (Cheryshev HT), 22 Isco (J.Rodriguez 78), 11 Bale (Lucas Vazquez HT); 20 Jese (Lazo 78).
Subs not used: 9 Benzema, 19 Modric, 24 Illaramendi, 25 Pacheco, 31 Ruben Yanez, 41 Odegaard.
Coach: Rafael Benitez.
Booked: Hernanes 53, Juan Jesus 67, Arbeloa 90.
Referee: Fu Ming.
Assistants: Alamusi, Mu Yuxin.
Fourth official: Guan Xin.
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