Salernitana fought from an early deficit to hold out-of-sorts Inter to a late 1-1 draw at the Stadio Arechi on Friday afternoon. While the hosts won’t mind sharing the spoils in Serie A for the fifth game in succession, the visitors may soon have to hold talks with Simone Inzaghi over his uncertain future in Lombardia.
After three consecutive Serie A defeats put Inter’s top-four charge in jeopardy, Inzaghi’s side went all-out-attack from the get-go in search of an early opener. The visitors couldn’t have hoped for a better start as Robin Gosens fired them in front after only six minutes with a brilliant finish from the edge of the box.
Salernitana couldn’t do anything to bounce back in the first half. It was all Inter. However, the lack of the finishing touch often let Inzaghi’s men down. Gosens had another massive opportunity to double his side’s lead moments after breaking the deadlock. Yet Guillermo Ochoa came up huge to deny his close-range header as he did midway through the first half to thwart Joaquin Correa from point-blank.
If it weren’t for Ochoa’s goalkeeping masterstroke, Salernitana would’ve probably been two or three goals down at the break. The Mexican shot-stopper pulled off a stunning save to deny Romelu Lukaku on the goal-line on the stroke of halftime. Unfortunately for the home fans, Ochoa’s heroics failed to inspire his outfield teammates.
On the other hand, Inter picked up where they left off at the start of the second half. In the 49th minute, Nicolo Barella unleashed a devastating strike from just outside the box, only for the right post to deflect his valiant attempt out of play. Despite falling to grab the second, the Nerazzurri were in cruising control of the proceedings at Arechi.
While Ochoa stopped Lukaku from getting on the scoresheet late in the first half, the Belgian striker had no excuse in the 65th minute. He could only hit the crossbar with a diving header from barely a yard out and will likely make the headlines for all the wrong reasons once again following his epic miss against Fiorentina last time out.
As it’s often the case in football, Inter were nearly punished for Lukaku’s unfathomable miss, but the crossbar denied Boulaye Dia’s well-struck half-volley in the 71st minute. Andre Onana was a mere spectator, but Lady Luck smiled at the ex-Ajax keeper. Unfortunately for the hosts, it was pretty much everything they had throughout 80 minutes.
Meanwhile, Ochoa continued his phenomenal display between the sticks, denying Lautaro Martinez in a one-on-one before keeping Lukaku at bay with another exquisite diving save minutes later. The chances Inter squandered today returned to haunt them in the 90th minute as Antonio Candreva’s moment of brilliance or luck (as you wish) finished in the top right corner of Onana’s goal.
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