Casa Calcio: Advantage Inter after 2-0 win over Fiorentina | OneFootball

With two first-half Inter Milan goals, Fiorentina have it all to do in the return leg of this Coppa Italia quarter-final tie.

The game never really lived up to the excitement of last weekend’s league clash. On that day, Fiorentina came from behind to claim all three points. Today, they never really looked like getting anything from this one.

How the teams lined up

Inter Milan: Gilardi; Brustia, Debever, Alborghetti, Bartonova (62′ Merlo); Simonetti (88′ Gallazzi), Catelli, Rincón (76′ Pandini); Møller, Tarenzi (62′ Marinelli), 9 Baresi (88′ Pavan)

Fiorentina: Schroffenegger, Quinn, Tortelli, Cordia (55′ Zanoli), Thøgersen; Adami, Middag, Vigilucci, Kim (62′ Monnecchi), Baldi (70′ Clelland), Sabatino

Inter untroubled

Inter started with the inexperienced Astrid Gilardi in goal. In truth, the away side never really troubled the debutante.

The home side started brightest and had their first real effort after 12 minutes. However, the shot from Yoreli Rincón was too high to worry the Fiorentina defence.

Louise Quinn had a header over the bar from a free-kick, as the Viola struggled to create any real chances in attack.

First blood

The home side finally made the breakthrough in the 27th minute. Eva Bartonova faced Quinn wide in the area. When she pulled the ball onto her left foot, it looked like she would aim a cross in front of goal. Instead, she let fly and her shot sailed into the top right-hand corner of the net.

Chance spurned

Just three minutes later and Caroline Møller should have doubled Inter’s lead. Rincón played a lovely through ball into the path of the Danish striker. All alone, her first touch let her down as Katja Schroffenegger was able to collect the ball.

Six minutes later and the Fiorentina keeper was again called into action. This time she pulled off a double save from the ever dangerous Stefania Tarenzi.

Another five minutes had passed when Tarenzi headed wide after a Martina Brustia cross found her all alone in the box.

Double trouble

With three minutes to go until the break, Møller made up for her earlier mistake in front of goal. When Tarenzi’s pass set her free again, her first touch was a left foot shot from the edge of the area. Schroffenegger’s leftward dive was in vain and Inter took a 2-0 lead into the second-half.

Second half

Fiorentina badly needed to get at least one away goal after the break to take back to Florence. It was Inter though who had the best of the chances again in the second half.

First, Tarenzi set up Regina Baresi. But, Alice Tortelli put in a perfectly timed tackle before she could get a shot away. Daniela Sabatino and Valery Vigilucci both had shots blocked in the Inter area, as they were still unable to create any clear cut chances.

Schroffenegger saves again

With twenty minutes gone in the second-half, Schroffenegger again needed to save from Møller when a long ball set her free. Ten minutes later, Sabatino finally had the ball in the Inter net. Unfortunately for the away side, the striker was flagged offside from Greta Adami’s long ball.

With time running out, Sabatino headed over from a corner kick. Then, deep into added time, a free-kick gave Fiorentina one last chance. In the end, Quinn’s header was off target and the final whistle followed.

Looking forward

It’s going to be a big ask for Fiorentina to get through to the semi-finals after this defeat. Without an away goal, that task is even harder. They have shown their fighting spirit this season though and Inter won’t take anything for granted when they make the trip to Florence in two weeks’ time.

Who impressed

For the winners, Stefania Tarenzi was a constant threat. She always has an eye for goal but also created plenty of openings for the team. Caroline Møller was another constant thorn in the side of the Fiorentina defence, and took her goal really well.

The away side had goalkeeper Katja Schroffenegger to thank for the fact that they are still in the tie with a shout. Tessel Middag worked tirelessly in the middle of the park for Fiorentina as well.

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