Match Report: Napoli 1 - 1 Bayern Munich

Two teams, two formations. In this Champions League Group A fixture, the contrast between the 3-4-3 of Napoli and the 4-2-3-1 of Bayern Munich determined the outcome of the result. Bayern were the better side in the game and controlled the possession of the ball, yet they seemed content to draw away to Napoli and sit atop the hardest group in the Champions League. Despite the contrast in formations, both clubs had difficulty tracking the runs from deep of opposing players, namely Christian Maggio and Toni Kroos, and also focused their play down the wings.


Line Ups:

The Game:


Bayern dominated from the first whistle and scored quickly, in the 2nd minute, from a well taken Kroos goal. Bayern passed the ball shortly and quickly, building up pace as they passed it forward, then distributed it out wide to Jerome Boateng who's low cross fell into the path of the running Kroos, who then accelerated past the Napoli defence and side footed it home.


Napoli then tried to get back in the game, using the runs of Maggio and Zúñiga out wide to fathom chances. Cavani didn't feature in the game and didn't look sharp; arguably the service towards him wasn't great but Lavezzi tried to create chances through his precise dribbling. Maggio, who earlier looked slightly wasteful, finally had a run that came into fruition after receiving a through ball from Gökhan Inler and he put the ball across the six yard box, where it was turned in by the hapless Holger Badstuber.


Bayern dominated early on in the second half, receiving a dubious penalty in the 49th minute from a Cannavaro handball. Mario Gómez missed the penalty with a poor effort and from then the game dwindled down, both teams content with a draw.





Passing:


Bayern comfortably controlled possession, especially in the early first half, mainly due to their one-man advantage in the middle of the field. Bayern's three central midfielders outnumbered Napoli's two and they played short passes through the middle. Eventually, however they forced it out wide to Franck Ribery or Thomas Müller. Despite this, Bayern were more patient in their passing and waited for opportunities to arrive.


Napoli, on the other hand, were far more riskier with their passing and played more directly, looking to get the ball on the wings quicker. This was helped by the passing prowess that all three of their centre backs had in sending long balls out wide. Furthermore, Napoli had only one good passer of the ball in the middle, Inler, and they looked to get the ball forward to the wings or to their front three.


Runs from Deep:


Both goals in the game came from the difficulty the teams had in tracking runs from deep. For Bayern, the main threat came from Kroos while for Napoli it was Maggio.


Kroos ran from deep in the middle of the pitch and early on, Napoli had trouble defending against this. Soon however, Campagnaro started to get forward to stop Kroos. This reduced the effectiveness of Kroos but it wasn't ideal for Campagnaro to track him as he struggled. This in theory would work, as Napoli had two spare centre backs against Bayern's lone striker and they could afford to lose one, yet it made their two-man defence very narrow and susceptible to Ribery down the flanks. Perhaps Gargano could have tracked Kroos from deep, preserving the back three of Napoli, but his marking would have been put under question.


Bayern found it difficult to prevent Maggio's runs from deep, which may in part be because most teams nowadays employ wingers further forward, cutting inside onto their stronger foot. Maggio, however, liked to send crosses without cutting in and ran from a deep position. Schweinsteiger should have prevented his runs further down the pitch but he isn't a player renowned for his defensive abilities.


Napoli Defending the Wings:


Napoli played with a three man defence and weren't protected from Bayern's wingers, especially Ribery, as they didn't have any full backs. Ribery is a modern type of winger who likes to cut inside and play further up the pitch and Napoli had problems with him. Instead of preventing him from finding any space down the flanks, they focused on stopping them from his position. The first line of defence was Maggio, who additionally to running forward, tracked back to stop Ribery. Then, the next layer of defence was the closest centre back to Ribery, in this case Campagnaro, who closed him down by playing as a full-back, leaving the other centre backs to reposition themselves more centrally. If Bayern worked harder and Ribery played to his full potential, this area would have been more decisive in the game; instead for large parts Ribery was ineffectual.


Conclusion:


An interesting game between two very different formations which fizzled out in the second half as the two teams started to play for a draw.

Match Report: Roma 2-0 Lazio

Is there a more fiery, important and tense Italian football derby than the Derby della Capitale? Sure the Milan derby is more illustrious, but the Rome derby means so much to the fans that some supporters would use laser pens to ensure that their side receives all three points in the battle of the capital.
But more on that later.
The derby was an intense game, featuring two red cards, a penalty and a bare chested Roman running celebrating fanatically. And all of this occurred in the last few minutes. But what about the tactics of this game? After all, it is hard to not be enthralled by the ensuing action of any derby and neglect the tactics of the game, if there were any. 
This game showed how Roma struggle to defend wide players, but also how big players who regularly fail to show up throughout the season, such as De Rossi and Totti, never forget to perform for the big derby.


Starting Line Ups:


Roma:

32 - Doni
29 - Nicolás Burdisso
5 - Phillipe Mexes
4 - Juan
17 - John Arne Riise
7 - David Pizarro 
16 - Daniele De Rossi
94 - Jérémy Menez
20 - Simone Perrotta
9 - Mirko Vučinić
10 - Francesco Totti


Under Ranieri, Roma played like many Italian teams and rarely strayed from their tried and tested 4-3-1-2. Vicenzo Montella, however, has brought a sense of upheaval in a tactical sense, introducing a 4-2-3-1, similar in fact to the 'strikerless' formation Montella played under with Luciano Spalletti at the helm. 


Totti didn't play as far forward as a normal striker, but he definitely did not play as an Trequartista. Vučinić played to the left of Totti, moving around the area between him and the touchline. 


On the opposite flank, however, Menez had much more of a free role. At the beginning of the game, Menez kept to the right flank, contrary to how he normally plays for Roma. This made Menez ineffective as he works best when cutting in and playing on the right flank, he would cut into on his weaker, left foot. Later on though, he would start to buzz between the flanks as if he were a bee hesitating over which flank he would call his hive. 


Marco Borriello was kept on the bench, possibly a reaction by Montella over his hysterical actions against Shakhtar Donetsk in midweek, after he took a penalty, against his manager's orders, and missed it.


Burdisso was effectively a centre back playing wide on the ride and hence didn't provide enough attacking verve down that side. This, however, would work to Roma's advantage.  


Lazio:

86 - Fernando Muslera
2 - Stephan Lichtsteiner
13 - Guglielmo Stendardo
20 - Giuseppe Biava
26 - Ştefan Radu
24 - Cristian Ledesma
8 - Hernanes
11 - Matuzalém
77 - Giuseppe Sculli
10 - Mauro Zárate
22 - Sergio Floccari


Lazio played a similar formation to Roma, with three centre midfielders patrolling the ball. 


The difference between the two sides, however, was how Lazio used wide players more effectively. Unlike Roma, Lazio played with an out-and-out winger in Sculli and a striker who was much more disciplined in sticking out wide in Zárate.


Lazio also had a target man type player in Floccari, so they were much more enthusiastic in sending the ball up forward.


Ledesma was the enforcer in midfield, with the Brazillian duo of Matuzalém and Hernanes spreading the ball out wide. Lichsteiner provided a lot of effort going forward, but without much product.


Opening Minutes: Threats from Deep


For a Serie A match, the game started with a lot of enthusiasm and fast paced balls; the players being urged on by the loud fans. Lazio had the first chance of the game when Matuzalém fired a long range shot wide after the ball fell to him kindly after a number of deflections from a corner. One minute later on, however, Matuzalém was outdone by Pizarro, who after receiving a pass from De Rossi 35 yards out, controlled the ball and fizzed an unstoppable shot onto Muslera's crossbar. 


After those two long-range strikes, the game slowed down as more and more fouls started building up. Three yellow cards were given out in the first half, showing how much the players abandoned pre-match plans and started playing more sporadically. Hence, the game was slow with many breaks in the play.


During the first half, Roma were more inclined to build the ball up from the back, playing neat balls through the middle. Many times however, they would out do it, playing a wrong pass or miss-control the ball. One of the main reasons why plenty of teams play direct football is because short passing results in more passes being played, and more passes means that there is a greater chance of making a mistake. This was evident by the play Roma were showing as they lost the ball lots of times.


In contrast, Lazio played more directly, bringing the ball up to Floccari to hold up or introducing the ball to one of their wingers. The defensive nature of Burdisso, however, negated the trickery of Zárate on the left, and the first half ended in a stalemate.


Second Half: Lazio Improves


After half time, Lazio started to play better football, out running Roma on the wings. The game opened up and this suited Lazio better as they were the quicker, more mobile team. The biancocelesti also started to cross the ball in more, and Floccari had chances to head the ball in due to Roma's vulnerability out wide. 


Roma had their chances as well. By playing little balls in to attack, Juan found himself with the ball after a pull-back by Menez, only to see Ledesma dispossess him by swiping the ball cleanly out under his feet. 


Late in the Game: Lots of incidents

The notorious green laser

As the subtitle suggests, the closing stages of the game were full of drama. Roma, apart from the Juan chance, were shut out for most of the second half, mainly through tough defense and Hernanes becoming more influential. On the 70' minute, however, they found themselves with a free kick only twenty yards out. Only one player was ever going to take that strike: Totti. A Roma player through and through, the child of Rome lived for derbies against Lazio. An idol of the Roma supporters, he hated Lazio as much as he loved Roma. 


Before he took the kick however, Muslera's eyesight was obstructed. And it wasn't just by the humongous wall Lazio had put up. From the crowd, a Roma fan was shining a green laser into his eyes. Then Totti struck the ball. Bang. The ball swerved through the Lazio wall and under Muslera's body with such force that that alone could have been an excuse for Muslera not saving the ball. But that wasn't it. The laser pen could have disorientated the Uruguayan goalkeeper, as it was in his eyes only shortly before Totti took the free-kick. Furthermore, the Lazio wall was extremely long, so Muslera could only see the ball very late. Either way, Roma were one up.


Only four minutes later, after scrapping for the ball, Matuzalém seemingly stood on Totti's ear. The referee missed it and while Totti was wriggling on the floor, the TV replay supported his claim. Matuzalém had clearly stepped on the side of Totti's face with force. This signaled the start of an ill-tempered finale. 


From the 85' minute onwards, Roma were keeping the ball by the corner flag and winning corners repeatedly by striking the ball against Radu's shin to the corner flag. After successive corner's of keeping the ball by the touchline, Totti and Simplicio started to get under the skin of Radu and after a while, the Romanian had enough. He strutted over to the corner flag, where Simplicio was standing, and head butted him on the head. Right in front of the assistant referee. Radu was already heading off the pitch before receiving the red card and Roma had succeeded in their ploy of frustrating the Lazio players. But the drama still wasn't over.   


In the 91' minute, Totti played a ball across the penalty area towards the path of the oncoming Simplicio after a fast break. Simplicio, however, was impeded by a nudge by Biava and fell to the ground. The referee pointed to the penalty spot and the Lazio players were in uproar. Cristian Ledesma, in particular, had something to say about the decision, and was promptly sent off after a long string of complaints towards the referee. Lazio were down to nine men, Roma had a penalty and the game was effectively over. That didn't stop Totti from getting a brace by thumping the ball into the roof of the net. Muslera, again, was impeded by a green laser to his face. Nevertheless, Totti galloped over to the Curva Sud, home to the Roma supporters, and started celebrating manically with his shirt off. Seconds later, Totti was substituted and handed a yellow card for his antics. All in a good days work.     

Benfica 1 - 2 Schalke 04: Match Report

Before this game, both teams had something to play for. Benfica had to ensure that Hapoel Tel-Aviv didn't gain at least two more points than them against Lyon to qualify for the Europa League as third in their group, whilst Schalke needed Lyon to not gain two more points than they did in the last match of the group stage to guarantee first place and receive an 'easier' draw for the knock-out stages. Benfica fans obviously weren't excited by the prospect of Europa League football as only a paltry 23,000 people came to watch the game in the 65,000 seater Estádio da Luz.

Starting Line Ups:

Benfica:

12 - Roberto

14 - Maxi Pereira

4 - Luisão

23 - David Luiz

18 - Fábio Coentrão 

6 - Javi García 

5 - Ruben Amorim

25 - César Peixoto

17 - Carlos Martins

30 - Javier Saviola

7 - Óscar Cardozo

Jorge Jesus employed a 4-4-2 diamond formation, with Amorim and Peixoto positioned somewhere between central midfield and winger roles. Maxi Pereira and Coentrão provided further width to the team with energetic runs down the flanks. Javi García was the deepest of midfielders, but he stayed relatively close to Amorim and Peixoto. Carlos Martins played as a enganche in the first half.

Schalke:

1 - Manuel Neuer

22 - Atsuto Uchida

4 - Benedikt Höwedes 

21 - Cristoph Metzelder

13 - Lukas Schmitz

14 - Kyriakos Papadopoulos

12 - Peer Kluge

18 - José Manuel Jurado

10 - Ivan Rakitić

7 - Raúl 

25 - Klaas-Jan Huntelaar

It was extremely difficult to define the shape of Schalke's midfield. Throughout the whole game, Papadopoulos protected the back four and was efficient in dispossessing Benfica and passing the ball onto someone else; he is a natural centre-back. The rest of the midfield, however, swapped places for much of the game, with Kluge mostly stationed on the right and Rakitić on the left. Whenever Schalke were out of possession, Kluge and Rakitić would tuck inside, forming a three-man centre midfield. Conversely, when Schalke had the ball, they would move out towards the wings, opening the play up. Raúl often tracked back to make the most out of his passing and technical abilities.

Opening Minutes: Contrasting Styles

Generally in football, the first twenty minutes establish what the game will be like in the remainder of the game. Up until the Schalke goal, however, Benfica were dominating and were making use of their short passing game. The match created an interesting juxtaposition between the short, slow passing of the Latin game and the fast, direct passing which is common in northern Europe. Benfica controlled the possession while Schalke were penned back into their own half. Furthermore, when Benfica had the ball, their players would take longer to decide where to pass it to, but when the Germans received the ball, their first aim would be to play a long ball towards Huntelaar and Raúl up front. Schalke also wanted to stretch the game more as when they had possession of the ball  Rakitić and Kluge would go to wide positions. Whilst it meant that their direct game would be more effective, the fact they played centrally while out of possession meant that Benfica wouldn't have a two man advantage in the centre of midfield and couldn't out-pass Schalke, which they were hoping to do.

Soon Schalke began to take the game to Benfica and sure enough scored in the 19th minute when Raúl spread the ball out to the left flank where Schmitz was stationed, who immediately laid it back for Rakitić to swing a cross in to an unmarked Raúl, who chested the ball back for fellow countryman Jurado to put the ball past Roberto with the outside of his foot. Schalke made the most of some dire marking by Benfica who didn't seem to posses the spirit to come back into the game in front of nearly-empty stands.  

Half Time Changes: Benfica more Attacking

At half time Jorge Jesus made a couple of substitutions at half time to try and introduce some pace and width into the team. Maxi Pereira went off for Nicolás Gaitán and Pablo Aimar came on for César Peixoto.Ruben Amorim went to right back and Gaitán was stationed on the left flank. Carlos Martins was left on the right wing, most probably because maybe there was a slight chance of discouraging him from shooting from distance, which he had done for much of the match. It failed, and he was later substituted for Eduardo Salvio, a more natural right-winger and a player less incline to shoot. 

Despite the more attacking outlook in Benfica's side, they still couldn't penetrate the organised defence of Schalke. Neither Saviola or Cardozo are particularly quick to take advantage over the lumbering giant that is Metzelder and if there was an unmarked man in Benfica's attack, he would be picked up by Papadopoulos.  Pablo Aimar also played a lot of through-balls for Saviola to run on to, but Saviola was often caught offside and Aimar's vision was used in vain as Benfica struggled to create any meaningful chances.

Schalke again capitalised on some dreadful marking by Benfica to score their second goal. After a Schalke corner went towards the edge of the penalty area, most of Benfica's players edged out away from the goal towards it. The ball was headed, however, back by Kluge towards the penalty area, were a mass evacuation had occurred earlier and where Höwedes was left onside and unmarked to head in his second goal in two games. 

Benfica scored a consolation goal from a Luisão header in the 87th minute as Schalke held on for the win. In the end, German efficiency triumphed over Portuguese flair, and the true extent of Schalke's efficiency are reflected in the match statistics.

Schalke finished as winners of Group B, while Benfica qualified for the Europa League after Hapoel Tel-Aviv conceded an equaliser against Lyon. 

Scoring List:

19' Jurado

81' Höwedes 

87' Luisão 

Statistics:

Benfica                        Schalke

61%    Possession        39%

15       Shots               7

4        Shots on Target  6

8        Corners             2

5        Offsides            4

14       Fouls               19

http://euro-goals.blogspot.com -> This is a good blog showing highlights of Europa and Champions League games

Barcelona 5 - 0 Real Madrid: Match Report

Catalonia vs Castilla. Left-wing vs Right wing. The rebels vs the aristocracy. Guardiola vs Mourinho. Messi vs Ronaldo. The best youth team in the world vs the Galácticos. Second in the table vs First in the table. This match epitomises all of these and means so much more to the respective fans involved. It is of course El Clásico. And what a game it was.

Starting Line-ups:

Barcelona:

1 - Víctor Valdés

2 - Daniel Alves

5 - Carles Puyol

3 - Gerard Piqué

22 - Éric Abidal

16 - Sergio Busquets

6 - Xavi

8 - Andrés Iniesta

17 - Pedro Rodríguez

7 - David Villa

10 - Lionel Messi

Barcelona played with their familiar 4-3-3 formation which has been the mainstay of their team for many years. Abidal was picked in front of Maxwell, mainly because Pep Guardiola wanted to play with a quick left-back to counter the pace posed by Ronaldo or di María on the flanks. Messi continued to play in his 'false nine' role with Villa feeding off behind him.

Real Madrid:

1 - Iker Casillas

4 - Sergio Ramos

3 - Pepe

2 - Ricardo Carvalho

12 - Marcelo

14 - Xabi Alonso

24 - Sami Khedira

22 - Ángel di María

23 - Mesut Özil 

7 - Cristiano Ronaldo

9 - Karim Benzema

Gonzalo Higuaín was left out in favour of Karim Benzema as he was unfit for the game. Real Madrid also played with their usual formation, 4-2-3-1. Khedira and Xabi Alonso provided protection to the back four while also bringing the ball out of midfield. At times Ronaldo and di María swapped sides, particularly early on.

Opening Minutes: Barcelona Domination:

Barcelona completely ran over Real Madrid in the first few minutes, controlling 75% of the possession in the first fifteen minutes. Messi played the 'false nine' role he was employed in throughout this season, coming deep to receive the ball. Barcelona took the lead through this way as Messi came back to pass a diagonal ball to Iniesta, who in turn played a diagonal pass into the six yard box where Xavi pounced after a Pepe mistake to lob it over Casillas. 

Barcelona played a lot quicker while Real Madrid often dwelled on the ball. Both teams pressed strongly against each other, but Barcelona's superior first touch allowed them to spend more time on the ball and thus giving them a better chance of playing an accurate pass. 

David Villa was a dribbling presence on the left, feeding off the space vacated by Messi and he set up the second goal in the 18th minute after sending a hard, low cross into the six yard box where Casillas fumbled into the path of Pedro, who gratefully tapped the ball in. By now Real Madrid were deflated in their play and half time seemed to arrive too late for them and Mourinho.

Second Half Changes: Problems for Real

Barcelona simply out-passed Real Madrid in the centre of midfield, as Khedira and Xabi Alonso were no match for Xavi and Iniesta. The lack of a ball-winning midfielder also posed problems for Real, as neither Xabi Alonso or Khedira looked close to dispossessing Barcelona's midfielders. To combat this, Mourinho took off the ineffective Özil for Lassana Diarra, who would hopefully help Real Madrid gain possession in midfield and control the ball. 

This didn't solve the problem created by Messi, however, as the World Player of the Year continued to drop deep. This posed a problem for Real's centre backs. If they continued to mark Messi, they would leave space behind them. If they stayed back, Messi would be given too much time on the ball to pick a pass and suddenly with him in midfield, the three midfielders of Real Madrid would be outnumbered. 

For the third goal, the Real defence decided to follow Messi and he played a perfectly weighted pass for Villa to run on to and stroke the ball into the bottom corner. Real Madrid needed to chase the game more, so they pressed higher up the pitch and Real Madrid's centre backs stood off Messi. This gave the Argentinian time to play the ball through again past the back line for Villa who poked the ball through Casillas' legs. 

The last goal was scored in added time as Bojan emulated Villa and squared the ball for fellow substitute Jeffrén to put the ball in the net.

Tempers Flare:
Late in the first half Guardiola held the ball on the touch line. Cristiano Ronaldo wanted the ball given to him straight away, but Guardiola put it to the side of Ronaldo, who subsequently softly pushed the Barcelona manager. The rest of the Barcelona players overreacted, surrounding Ronaldo and exchanging words (probably unpleasant) with him. Víctor Valdés ran up to confront Ronaldo, incensed at his acts.

Just before the half time interval, Messi was behind Carvalho. The latter jerked his elbow back and his upper arm hit Messi's face. Messi fell to the ground needlessly and received a yellow card for his troubles.

In the last minute of added time with Lionel Messi nonchalantly dribbling through the middle, he was hacked by Sergio Ramos. The Real man then promptly proceeded to push Puyol to the ground, received a red card and put his fist under Xavi's chin while walking off the pitch. A red card on three occasions. Ramos does like to do things in style.

This El Clásico will live long in the memory and ranks up there with the 6-2 drubbing a year back. Real's great form into the lead up of this game will seem a distant memory as Mourinho will try to uplift his side and motivate them once more. This game was not only a victory for Barcelona, but also for their ideal, of short passing, movement and flair.

Statistics:

Barcelona                        Real Madrid

67%         Possession       33%

11            Shots              4

7             Shots on target 2

3             Corners            6

5             Offsides           2


Scoring List:
Xavi 10'
Pedro 17'
Villa 55'
Villa 58'
Jeffren 90+1'


Click here for highlights

Internazionale 0 - 1 AC Milan

In the Derby della Madonnina, Milan won 1-0 thanks to a penalty from Zlatan Ibrahimović against his former club. The match was a bad tempered one, with Ignazio Abate sent off for pushing Goran Pandev in the 60th minute.


Starting Lineups:
Internazionale:

12 - Luca Castellazzi
2 - Iván Córdoba
6 - Lucio
23 - Marco Materazzi
26 - Cristian Chivu
5 - Javier Zanetti (C)
4 - Dejan Stanković
20 - Joel Obi
10 - Wesley Sneijder
9 - Samuel Eto'o
22 - Eto'o Milito


Due to injuries to Júlio César, Maicon, Walter Samuel, Thiago Motta and Esteban Cambiasso, Rafael Benítez had no choice but to field a weak side, with players like Joel Obi being pushed into the senior side. Iván Córdoba was picked in front of Davide Santon, meaning there was no attacking presence down the right flank. Benítez decided to play a 4-3-1-2 formation, with Wesley Sneijder in the 'hole' instead of the regular 4-2-3-1 formation Inter have been using for the last couple of years.


AC Milan:

32 - Christian Abbiati
20 - Ignazio Abate
13 - Alessandro Nesta
33 - Thiago Silva
19 - Gianluca Zambrotta
8 - Gennaro 'Rino' Gattuso
23 - Massimo Ambrosini (C)
16 - Mathieu Flamini
10 - Clarence Seedorf
70 - Robinho
11 - Zlatan Ibrahimović


Massimiliano Allegri left out Ronaldinho in his team and decided not to risk Andrea Pirlo's fitness, so he instead played with three 'workers' in midfield, in Gattuso, Ambrosini and Flamini. The main width from the team came from Ignazio Abate and Gianluca Zambrotta running from defence, while sometimes Clarence Seedorf moved to the left flank to get possession of the ball.


Early Minutes and Milan Goal:
Milan were by far the more dominant from the whistle, with Zlatan Ibrahimović most influential in the game. Milan tried to play long through balls from midfield for Robinho and Ibrahimović to run on to, and it was through that tactic that Milan won a penalty. Ibrahimović ran on from a long ball from midfield and when he arrived in the penalty area, he pulled the ball back but was tripped by Materazzi's trailing leg. Ibrahimović confidently dispatched the penalty, firing it to Castellazzi's left. From then on Inter failed to get into the game to give enough support to Milito and Eto'o. Furthermore, Inter had no width in their play, with two fairly defence-minded full-backs (Córdoba and Chivu) and with no winger in their team. To fill in those spaces out wide, Eto'o pulled to the left, but that left Milito alone up-front and he was surrounded by Milan defenders. Ibrahimović meanwhile was having a great game, joining play by dropping deep when Milan were in possession, in essence providing an extra midfielder for the side. However, when Milan weren't in possession, he would stay on the offside line (which Inter were implementing horribly, especially as Materazzi was never quick as a young player, let alone as a 37 year old) to receive through balls. Milan would then put balls over the top of the defence for the two front men to make something out of. 


Half Time Changes:
Before half-time, Benítez put on Philippe Coutinho on for the injured Obi. Goran Pandev came on for the ineffective Milito at the break and in the 68th minute Jonathan Biabiny replaced the injured Marco Materazzi. Zanetti was brought to right back with Córdoba as a centre back, while Coutinho played in the middle with Stanković behind the trio of Biabiny, Sneijder and Pandev. Eto'o played as the lone front man. These changes enabled Benitez to play a 4-2-3-1, which is what the Inter players are used to and also allowed more width in their play with the introduction of two wingers. Inter took to the game and were helped by a controversial incident in the 60th minute. After a foul, Abate hurried to get the ball from Pandev's grasp. This angered the Macedonian, who pushed Abate to the floor, who immediately got up and subsequently pushed Pandev back. Pandev was given a yellow-card while Abate was sent off and the former was very lucky to stay on the pitch as there was no difference in the offence committed between the two. Despite the one-man advantage, Milan defended solidly and hung on to the precious three points to stay clear at the top of the table.


Statistics:
Inter                          Milan
57%  Possession         43%
10     Shots                6
3      Shots on Target  1
4      Corners             4
12    Fouls                17
1     Yellow Cards      4