DOHA – Inter were beaten 1-0 by Paris Saint-Germain as they ended 2015 with an entertaining exhibition match in Doha. French youngster Jean-Kevin Augustin struck the only goal of the game shortly before the break.
Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium was packed to the rafters with large sections of it decked out in black and blue thanks to the choreography organised by the local Inter Clubs. Meanwhile the Nerazzurri took to the pitch wearing black armbands in memory of Natalino Curzola Moratti, who recently passed away.
Seven minutes into the encounter a well-worked PSG move enabled Zlatan Ibrahimovic to play in Blaise Matuidi with a backheel, but the France midfielder's weak effort was easily saved by Samir Handanovic.
Inter responded with a dummy by Stevan Jovetic which gave Ivan Perisic the chance to burst away down the wing and ping in a delivery that Jonathan Biabiany was unable to connect with. The Frenchman did manage to line up his sights 11 minutes into the game following Adem Ljajic's ball but proceeded to lift his effort over the bar from the edge of the box.
The game was unsurprisingly being played at a slow tempo, although that didn't mean chances were in short supply. Around the quarter-hour mark Ibrahimovic bought himself a yard and aimed for the top corner only to see Handanovic fly across goal and turn his drive behind for a corner.
In the 18th minute Jovetic picked out Martin Montoya all alone in the box and the Spaniard tried to fire across goal but Kevin Trapp was alert to it.
On 27 minutes Perisic and Jovetic linked up well before the Montenegrin fizzed over, then a minute later Marco Verratti was presented with a fantastic opportunity to open the scoring. Ibrahimovic was the provider for the Italy midfielder, who turned on the edge of the box before unleashing a right-footed blast that hit the underside of the bar and bounced down on the wrong side of the goalline.
In the end it took a deflection to break the deadlock. Danilo D'Ambrosio challenged the advancing Verratti and the ball span off the defender and behind Inter's rearguard. 18-year-old Augustin was quickest to react and angled his finish across Handanovic to put the French side one-nil up moments before the half-time whistle.
Roberto Mancini made a number of changes during the interval and the second period began with Jovetic winning a free kick on the edge of the box which he could only hit into the wall.
Down the other end Augustin was sniffing around for his second of the night. He slipped away from Davide Santon and cut inside but wasn't able to get a decent shot off.
Mancini made a raft of changes midway through the half and D'Ambrosio soon found himself as the only starter left on the pitch. Meanwhile Laurent Blanc introduced a host of new faces of is own and the intensity dropped as play became broken up.
Inter – now with a clutch of Primavera players in their ranks – managed to carve out a decent chance from a corner but Bright Gyamfi's header was saved on the line by Nicolas Douchez.
The Nerazzurri had another chance to level the scores ten minutes from the end as Yuto Nagatomo sped away down the right and cut inside before striking a curling effort towards goal that Douchez managed to push behind.
Juan Pablo Carrizo then stepped up himself to deny Augustin his second shortly before the end of normal time as the game petered out and finished by the same scoreline as last year's meeting between these two sides.
Inter's winter training camp in Qatar continues with another session tomorrow morning. Further sessions are scheduled on New Year's Day and 2 January before the Nerazzurri return to Milan ahead of their Week 18 fixture away to Empoli on Wednesday 6 January (18:00 CET).
Inter 0-1 Paris Saint-Germain (HT 0-1)
Scorer: Augustin 45.
Inter: 1 Handanovic (30 Carrizo 46); 14 Montoya (55 Nagatomo 46), 33 D'Ambrosio (16 Gravillon 83), 23 Ranocchia (56 Popa 64), 21 Santon (93 Dimarco 64); 77 Brozovic (18 Gyamfi 64), 7 Kondogbia (27 Gnoukouri 64); 44 Perisic (97 Manaj 60), 22 Ljajic (92 Baldini 60), 11 Biabiany (17 Medel 46); 10 Jovetic (99 Correia 64).
Subs not used: 46 Berni, 19 Tchaoule, 20 Zonta, 26 Emmers.
Coach: Roberto Mancini.
Paris Saint-Germain: 16 Trapp (1 Douchez 64); 23 Van der Wiel (5Marquinhos 46), 3 Kimpembe, 19 Aurier (17 Maxwell 75), 20 Kurzawa; 25 Rabiot, 4 Stambouli, 6 Verratti (33 Nkunku 64), 14 Matuidi (35 Ongenda 64); 10 Ibrahimovic (7 Lucas 64), 29 Augustin.
Subs not used: 30 Sirigu, 40 Descamps, 2 Thiago Silva, 8 Thiago Motta, 9 Cavani, 11 Di Maria, 22 Lavezzi, 27 Pastore, 32 David Luiz.
Coach: Laurent Blanc.
Booked: Dimarco 82, Gravillon 84.
Added time: 1+4 minutes.
Referee: Khamis Al-Marri.
Assistants: Juma Al Bushaid, Yousef Al Shamari.
Fourth official: Saoud Al Adba.
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