Bologna frustrate Inter Milan
Rome, Aug. 31: Champions Inter Milan were held to a frustrating 0-0 draw away to Bologna in their opening match of the 2010/11 Serie A season on Monday.
In a game delayed due to Inter’s European Supercup commitments in Monaco on Friday, the nerazzurri took 45 minutes to wake up and then despite bombarding Bologna's goal in the second period, they could find no way through.
If playing last season’s treble winners wasn’t tough enough already, Bologna’s preparations were thrown into disarray on the eve of the match when president Sergio Porcedda sacked coach Franco Colomba and temporarily replaced him with youth team boss Paolo Magnani. But the hosts showed remarkable resilience, not least from goalkeeper Emiliano Viviano, who made a number of crucial saves, including one with his head.
Although Inter changed coaches in the summer — Rafael Benitez replacing the Real Madrid-bound Jose Mourinho — the starting XI in a 4-4-3 formation came straight from the Portuguese’s mould. However, Inter failed to sparkle and only reached something resembling their own high standards after the interval.
Benitez paid tribute to Viviano’s performance but lamented his team’s lack of freshness. “He did very well with his head, with his hands, with everything,” joked Benitez.
“In the beginning we had control, we did well but then they had some chances on the counter-attack, but in the second half we did everything we’d spoken about beforehand. We’re lacking physical conition and then (Bologna) worked well in defence, they were organised and it wasn’t easy to find space, but I’m happy with the reaction of my team in the second half.”
“We hope to do better in future, we’re at the beginning and everyone needs to understand that we must have more of the ball. We had some chances, we showed that even away we wanted to win. We had control, we did everything we could but we lacked freshness,” said Benitez.
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