PISA - Luciano Spalletti’s Inter drew for the first time this season after the 3-3 with Zenit St Petersburg at the Arena Garibaldi in Pisa in what was the third match of #InterPreSeason.
Both sides studied one another early on with high pressing and there was a bit too much sloppiness on the ball. The deadlock was broken by Antonio Candreva with an extraordinary strike. The number 87 switched the play with D’Ambrosio, came inside and then let fly with a powerful right-foot shot that found its way into the top corner.
Luciano Spalletti’s players took heart after going ahead but conceded an equaliser to the Russian side while on top. Following a throw-in, the ball fell to Noboa who quickly got a shot away to leave Handanovic with no chance. After an even spell, Inter went extremely close to making it 2-1 in the 40th minute. Politano played the ball into the middle for Icardi who created space for Borja Valero in the area. The Spanish midfielder’s effort was deflected and beat Lunev but Mevija scrambled to clear off the line.
Borja Valero continued to feature heavily soon after the break after he was brought down when trying to get on the end of a Politano cross. Manganiello awarded a penalty to Inter and Mauro Icardi made no mistake from the spot to restore the lead. Once again, Inter’s lead didn’t last long when Mak found the net from a tight angle with a powerful effort.
Both sides continued to throw punches and counterpunches. Zenit went ahead with an incredible strike from Hernani before Lautaro Martinez (who had just replaced Mauro Icardi) got onto the ball after a scramble following a header by Politano before turning home from the edge of the six-yard-box. That was the last real moment of action in the match which finished 3-3. The Nerazzurri will be back in action on Tuesday 24th July away at the home of Sheffield United.
INTER 3-3 ZENIT ST PETERSBURG
GOALS: 16' Candreva, 27' Noboa, 50’ Icardi, 64’ Mak, 73’ Hernani, 75’ Lautaro
INTER: 1 Handanovic; 33 D'Ambrosio (79’ Zappa 67), 6 De Vrij (55’ Ranocchia 13), 37 Skriniar, 29 Dalbert; 5 Gagliardini, 18 Asamoah (77’ Roric 65); 16 Politano (77’ Colidio 32), 20 Borja Valero (65’ Emmers 40), 87 Candreva (77’ Salcedo 74); 9 Icardi (65’ Lautaro 10).
Bench: 27 Padelli, 46 Berni, 59 Dekic, 63 Pompetti, 64 Nolan, 68 Demirovic.
Coach: Luciano Spalletti
ZENIT ST PETERSBURG: 99 Lunev, 2 Anyukov, 5 Paredes (82’ Kranevitter 8), 60 Ivanovic (65’ Neto 13), 10 Rigoni (45’ Mak 20), 11 Driussi (65’ Kuzyaev 14), 15 Nabiullin, 16 Noboa ( Hernani 33), 17 Shatov (82’ Ozdoev), 22 Dzyuba ( 65’ Zabolotny 29), 23 Mevija.
Bench: 1 Lodygin, 41 Kerzhakov, 19 Smolnikov, 25 Skrobotov, 26 Chernov, 77 Djordjevic.
Coach: Sergey Semak
Referee: Gianluca Manganiello
Assistants: Stefano Liberti and Dario Cecconi
Fourth Official: Francesco Meraviglia
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