Inter beat PSG on penalties

Football

Samuele Longo cancelled out a Timo Kehrer header in stoppage time, then Samir Handanovic saved two penalties in Inter’s shoot-out win over Paris SaintGermain.

Nicolò Barella got his first start and Antonio Conte again picked Ivan Perisic as a striker, with Lautaro Martinez away following the Copa America, Mauro Icardi and Radja Nainggolan frozen out. This friendly in Macau was their last in the tour of Asia after a defeat to Manchester United and draw with Juventus, losing on penalties.

Samir Handanovic made his first save on Pablo Sarabia’s snapshot within 50 seconds, but moments later Alphonse Areola had to deny both Marcelo Brozovic, then Sebastiano Esposito and even his own teammates when Danilo D’Ambrosio’s cross almost led to an own goal.

Conte’s pressing game was clear to see and did not allow PSG to get into a rhythm, but as time wore on, the heat and humidity got to both teams.

The drop in tempo was to Paris Saint-Germain’s benefit and they took the lead when Timo Kehrer’s glancing header on a free kick bounced in off the underside of the bar.

After the restart, Perisic wasted a double opportunity, first firing straight at Areola one-on-one, then turning the rebound over.

Barella stung Areola’s gloves after Brozovic and Perisic combined, then Sarabia on the counter found a flying Handanovic save.

Diego Godin came off the bench for his debut in an Inter jersey and a Perisic header landed on the roof of the net.

With practically the last kick of the game, Inter got their deserved equaliser, as pressing won the ball back and Samuele Longo drilled right-footed into the far bottom corner.

It therefore went to penalties in Macau to assign the International Super Cup. Handanovic saved from Adil Aouchiche and Antonio Candreva had the chance to win it, but his attempted Panenka clipped the crossbar.

It went to sudden death and Handanovic denied Arthur Zagre, giving Joao Mario the winning penalty into the roof of the net.