Video: Inter 1 – 0 Southampton [Europa League] Highlights 2016/17
The Nerazzurri held on after the expulsion of Brozovic to take three points, with Samir Handanovic coming up big with some key saves to frustrate the visitors
Antonio Candreva’s second-half goal proved enough to secure ten-man Inter’s first Europa League win of the season as they beat Southampton 1-0 at San Siro.
The Italian side had come into Thursday’s game rooted to the bottom of Group K having failed to win either of their opening two fixtures and looked set for more disappointment as the visitors dominated for an hour.
However, Candreva’s superb 67th-minute finish secured a win that, while undoubtedly fortuitous, served to relieve the pressure on under-fire boss Frank de Boer.
And the Dutchman’s side showed great resolve to seal the points having being forced to play out the final 13 minutes with ten men after Marcelo Brozovic picked up a second yellow card.
Another positive for Inter was the favourable reception afforded to skipper Mauro Icardi by the home fans following the Argentine’s well-publicised falling out with a section of the club’s support.
The result snapped a run of four consecutive European defeats for the hosts and maintained their hopes of progressing to the knock-out phase.
But for two superb saves from Samir Handanovic in the final five minutes, Southampton would have claimed at least a point, which was the minimum their performance deserved.
Southampton came close to gifting Inter an early goal when Cuco Martina’s loose backpass was pounced upon by Icardi and Fraser Forster had to react smartly to snuff out the danger.
Having survived that early scare, however, the visitors proceeded to dominate the rest of the half, Jay Rodriguez went agonisingly close to giving his side a deserved lead on 28 minutes.
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