Five things learned as Hakan Calhanoglu stays perfect to down Arsenal | OneFootball

Inter Milan handed Arsenal their first Champions League defeat of the season, winning 1-0 at San Siro this evening.

Simone Inzaghi’s team owed their victory to Hakan Çalhanoglu, who scored from 12 yards out in stoppage time, while the Gunners return home regretting several missed opportunities.

As a result, Inter remains unbeaten and sits two points behind Liverpool, the only team with a perfect record. Meanwhile, Mikel Arteta’s side is now three points behind and has suffered back-to-back defeats across all competitions.

As the dust begins to settle, here are five things we learned from this encounter.

1. Mr. Penalty strikes again

It is often said that three things are certain in life: death, taxes, and Hakan Çalhanoğlu converting a penalty for Inter. Tonight’s spot-kick marks his 19th taken, with each one surpassing the opposition goalkeeper.

If that’s not impressive, consider this: throughout his entire career in the Champions League, Çalhanoglu has scored all nine of his goals in home games—five for Bayer Leverkusen and four for Internazionale. This makes him the player with the highest number of goals scored exclusively at home in the competition’s history.

Oh, and in his 47th appearance, he’s scored in back-to-back games for the first time.

Arsenal may feel unfortunate about the penalty decision. Just before half-time, a free-kick is taken and whipped into the box, where it deflects off Mikel Merino, who is unaware, and strikes his outstretched hand. Although the ball was away from his body, the punishment of a penalty kick for such an incident seems too harsh.

“I can’t get my head around how this is a penalty,” former England defender Matt Upson said on BBC Radio 5 Live. “Mikel Merino’s hand is in a perfectly natural position. The ball is skimmed off the foot of Mehdi Taremi, who is two yards away. In the Premier League it doesn’t get given as a penalty. It is ridiculous.”

Just moments earlier, Inter goalkeeper Yann Sommer collided with Merino, but VAR reviewed the incident and decided not to intervene. “You could argue for a penalty there! Merino headed the ball, and then Sommer came in and struck him hard,” Paul Merson exclaimed on Soccer Special. “He literally punched his head twice. It should definitely be a penalty.”

2. Inter’s ridiculous depth

Simone Inzaghi is Inter’s most successful head coach since José Mourinho, who was the last to lead an Italian team to Champions League victory. Inzaghi came agonizingly close to matching Mourinho’s achievement two seasons ago, but last year, the Nerazzurri were unexpectedly eliminated from the competition by Atletico Madrid, leaving few expecting much from them in this edition.

However, football isn’t played on paper. For a club with Inter’s ambitions, competing effectively in both domestic and European competitions hinges not only on the strength of their squad but also on its depth. This was evident tonight, as Marcus Thuram, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, and Nicolò Barella all came off the bench (for Lautaro Martínez, Piotr Zielinski and Davide Frattesi) shortly after the hour mark.

Inzaghi would understandably have preferred to keep them rested for this weekend’s top-of-the-table showdown with Napoli.

Yann Bisseck’s inclusion in the starting lineup raised some eyebrows, especially with Francesco Acerbi and Alessandro Bastoni on the bench. However, he made an incredible block late in the game, justifying that selection and showcasing Inter’s depth of quality. Federico Dimarco coming on for Mehdi Taremi further illustrates this point.

3. Missing Rice

On the eve of tonight’s match, it was announced that Arsenal midfielder Declan Rice will miss tonight’s game — after injuring his foot during Saturday’s 1-0 defeat to Newcastle — and is also doubtful for Sunday’s showdown against Chelsea, but focusing on this competition, Rice’s importance to Arsenal was thoroughly highlighted during their first three Champions League matches.

He won possession in the defensive third eight times, while in the middle third, only Partey performed better, and in the attacking third, only Kai Havertz won possession more times. Partey made more interceptions than Rice, who is yet to be dribbled past in this season’s competition.

Rice also recorded the most tackles (seven) among players in Arteta’s squad. They greatly missed Rice’s ability to run from deep this evening. He is not precisely a box-to-box midfielder, per se, but he can play effectively between the middle and final third.

4. Empty calories

During his commentary on TNT Sports, Ally McCoist made an important point regarding the disparity in shot counts between the teams. He argued that it was meaningless; the only statistic truly mattered was the scoreline. Arsenal finished the match with 21 shots on goal, nearly tripling their season average of 8.3 coming into matchday four. However, only four of those shots were on target, and if not for some solid defending from Inter, Arsenal could have easily returned home with just a point or more.

The club’s legendary boss, Arsène Wenger, once discussed the concept of “sterile domination,” and Arsenal’s 62.8% possession rate was largely due to Inzaghi’s strategy. He was content to have his Inter team—known for their strong defensive skills—sit back and look to counter-attack against the English visitors. However, as the match approached the 90-minute mark, those counter-attacking opportunities for Inter became increasingly rare.

5. Super Sommer

Sommer had to make four saves to achieve another clean sheet in this season’s competition. No one has yet scored against the Inter goalkeeper, who has now registered four consecutive clean sheets. In total, he has kept eight clean sheets in 11 Champions League appearances for the club. His clean sheet percentage of 73% is the best among goalkeepers with ten or more appearances in the competition.

Additionally, this marks the first time in history that Inter has managed to keep four clean sheets in a row in the European Cup. This is particularly striking considering that the defensive style known as catenaccio became synonymous with the Italian club during the early years of the competition.

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