MILAN – Inter suffered a damaging defeat at home to Torino in Week 31 of Serie A 2015/16 that saw both Miranda and Yuto Nagatomo sent off in a calamitous second half.
A penalty converted by Mauro Icardi in the 17th minute had put the Nerazzurri ahead at the break, but a strike from Cristian Molinaro and a penalty from Andrea Belotti turned the result on its head.
Roberto Mancini opted to start the game in a 4-2-3-1 formation as Inter made their return to San Siro after the international break. Mauro Icardi led the line on his own, with a trio of Adem Ljajic, Rodrigo Palacio and Ivan Perisic behind him. Marcelo Brozovic and Gary Medel formed a two-man pivot in front of a back-four of Davide Santon, Miranda, Juan Jesus and Yuto Nagatomo, with Samir Handanovic in goal.
Aside from a tense moment when Handanovic received a blow to his hand rushing out to smother the ball at Maxi Lopez's feet, it was a slow opening to this evening's contest. After a quarter of an hour, Brozovic cut inside and let fly from the edge of the area. Emiliano Moretti threw himself at the shot and his trailing arm blocked the Croatian midfielder's effort: Marco Guida adjudged it to warrant penalty and pointed to the spot. Icardi made no mistake from the spot and put Inter into the lead.
After the goal, Mancini's men were content to sit back on their lead and hit Torino on the counter, with Ljajic and Palacio looking sharp in between the lines. Miranda came close to doubling the lead in the 32nd minute after a well-worked free-kick routine, but struck Brozovic's whipped delivery narrowly wide. Both Icardi and Ljajic were presented with decent opportunities before half-time but couldn't convert and the teams went into the changing rooms with the score at 1-0.
There were no changes to either side at half-time and Inter began the second half on the front foot with Ljajic releasing Icardi in the area. The Argentine fell to the floor under pressure from the Torino defenders but in Guida's mind the Nerazzurri captain was the guilty party.
However, the visitors were gaining a stronghold in the game and found the equaliser ten minutes after the restart. Maxi Lopez held up the ball well and laid it off for an onrushing Molinaro to stab past Handanovic in goal. Things went from bad to worse as two minutes later there was another turning point in the match. Miranda, already on a booking, clattered into the back of Belotti and received his marching orders.
Initially, the fact Inter were playing with ten men didn't seem to make much of a difference as Perisic continued to cause havoc down the left. In fact, Inter's best move of the second half came from that flank. Palacio found Perisic who lofted the ball to Icardi. Inter's No.9 leaped highest and nodded it back towards the far post, but Daniele Padelli pulled out a superb save to keep it out.
Another vital moment came in the 72nd minute when Belotti threw himself to the ground after an apparent trip by Nagatomo. It was enough for Guida, who pointed to the spot for the second time in the game and sent the Japanese defender off for denying a clear goalscoring chance. Belotti picked himself up to send Handanovic the wrong way from the spot and put Torino into the lead.
Inter battled on gamely till the end with just nine men but by that point the game was dead and buried. After five minutes of stoppage time, the referee blew the final whistle and left the Nerazzurri to reflect on a damaging loss.
INTER 1-2 TORINO (HT: 1-0)
Scorers: Icardi 17 (pen), Molinaro 55, Belotti 73 (pen).
INTER: 1 Handanovic; 21 Santon (23 Eder, 84), 25 Miranda, 5 Jesus, 55 Nagatomo; 77 Brozovic, 17 Medel; 22 Ljajic (24 Murillo, 58), 8 Palacio, 44 Perisic; 9 Icardi (11 Biabiany, 71).
Subs not used: 30 Carrizo, 46 Berni, 7 Kondogbia, 10 Jovetic, 11 Biabiany, 12 Telles, 23 Eder, 27 Gnoukouri, 33 D'Ambrosio, 83 Melo.
Coach: Roberto Mancini.
TORINO: 1 Padelli; 24 Moretti, 18 Jansson, 5 Bovo (14 Gazzi, 67); 33 Peres, 15 Benassi (8 Farnerud, 79), 20 Vives, 4 Obi (16 Baselli, 56), 3 Molinaro; 9 Belotti, 11 Maxi Lopez.
Subs not used: 13 Castellazzi, 28 Ichazo, 7 Zappacosta, 17 Martinez, 19 Maksimovic, 21 Silva.
Coach: Giampiero Ventura.
Yellow cards: Moretti 16, Miranda 19, Vives 29, Medel 41, Peres 81, Molinaro 87, Belotti 89.
Red cards: Miranda 57, Nagatomo 72.
Injury time: 2+5 minutes.
Referee: Marco Guida.
Assistants: Alessandro Giallatini, Sergio Ranghetti.
Fourth official: Gianluca Vuoto.
Additional assistants: Paolo Valeri, Marco Di Bello.
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LE PAROLE DI MANCINI POST INTER TORINO
