LUKAKU HAS LAST WORD FOR CONTE
ANTONIO CONTE’S plan to win the Serie A at Inter Milan by building a former Premier League XI remains on course after a thrilling comeback against their city rivals.
For long periods it looked as though Conte’s collection of former stars of the english top flight would be eclipsed by the force of Zlatan Ibrahmovic’s personality, who helped put AC Milan two up.
Yet Alexis Sanchez, unwanted by Manchester United, created the second and third goals as Inter drew level with Juventus at the top of Serie A. Then Victor Moses, on loan from Chelsea, created the fourth for Sanchez’s former United team-mate Romelu Lukaku in stoppage time to seal the win.
That had seemed highly unlikely at half-time. In the opening 45 minutes, none of Conte’s five signings from england had as big an impact on this game as the 38-year-old Ibrahimovic (below), who made the first for Ante Rebic, scored the second and bullied the Inter back line.
But second-half goals from Marcelo Brozovic, Matias Vecino and Stefan De Vrij changed the story dramatically, and Christian eriksen — on as a substitute — hit the bar with a 35-yard free-kick.
Amid the spectacular colour and choreography, the sense of anxiety among the Inter fans was still apparent. After Juventus’ surprise defeat at Verona on Saturday, this was a match they dared not lose — especially in their ‘home’ derby.
With three- quarters of the 75,000 sell-out crowd urging on Inter and hissing every time a Milan player touched the ball, the stage seemed to be set for Conte’s men, whose team looked far more powerful.
The days of Kaka, Andrea Pirlo and Andriy Shevchenko are long gone for Milan, with Ibrahimovic the only throwback to a more successful era. Yet they still made a far more composed start to this match than Inter, threatening on the flanks and causing problems for the Inter wing-backs, Ashley Young and Antonio Candreva.
They might have taken the lead in the ninth minute when Hakan Calhanoglu, their Turkish playmaker, hit the post from 25 yards.
Lukaku proved in the 24th minute, though, that he can frighten a defence like few attackers worldwide with a thrilling burst from halfway that left Alessio Romagnoli trailing. Lukaku then picked out Vecino with a low cross, only for the Uruguayan midfielder to shoot straight at Gianluigi Donnarumma.
earlier, Diego Godin had headed Sanchez’s right-wing corner just wide of the far post but that was not enough to ease the tension in the stands or on the touchline, where Conte paced and fidgeted as his team stuttered.
His mood darkened again when Milan took a deserved lead five minutes before the interval. Castillejo lofted the ball towards Ibrahimovic, who outjumped Godin to head the ball back into the danger zone where Daniele Padelli inexplicably patted the ball into the path of Rebic, who turned it home.
Padelli was not finished there, either. When Frank Kessie flicked on a corner, Ibrahimovic headed it goalwards, where Padelli should surely have kept it out. Instead, he could only push the ball into the corner.
Inter needed a fast start after half-time and they found it with two goals in three minutes. First Brozovic volleyed home from the edge of the box after and then Vecino levelled from close range after Sanchez eluded Donnarumma before teeing up his team-mate.
On the bench, they celebrated raucously, before Conte put his forefingers to his temples to stress the need for concentration among his players. They obeyed his orders in the 70th minute when Sanchez delivered a right-wing corner and De Vrij produced a brilliant header into the top corner.
After eriksen’s remarkable free-kick, Ibrahimovic headed against a post in the final minute of normal time before Moses crossed for Lukaku to head in the fourth. Virtually the whole Inter bench ran to celebrate with Lukaku in the corner. Perhaps this will be the year the Premier League gives Inter a helping hand towards their first title for a decade.