Inter hold off Salzburg for Champions League win

Inter Milan extended their unbeaten start in Champions League Group D with a 2-1 win over Red Bull Salzburg at San Siro.

Oscar Gloukh gave the Austrians hope when he cancelled out an opener from Alexis Sanchez but Hakan Calhanoglu’s second-half penalty extended the fine form of Simone Inzaghi’s side.

Inter bounced into the game off the back of a 3-0 win over Torino on Saturday but found themselves up against it early on against confident opponents who had started their campaign with an eye-catching 2-0 win at Benfica.

Gloukh had the first chance when he rifled a fifth-minute chance straight at Inter keeper Yann Sommer, and the same player combined well with Maurits Kjaergaard only for the Dane to mis-kick straight at the Swiss stopper.

Inter barely threatened in the opening quarter of an hour but they snatched the lead against the run of play in the 19th minute when Davide Frattesi swept up a pass from Henrikh Mkhitaryan and played a neat ball to Sanchez who fired home.

The goal galvanised the hosts who pushed for a second and Salzburg defender Amar Dedic almost presented them one when he deflected a cross from Denzel Dumfries inches wide of his own goal.

Calhanoglu’s set-pieces posed a constant threat to the Austrian defence while Sanchez played in Lautaro Martinez who flashed a shot across the face of goal.

Inter continued in the ascendency early in the second half but it was Salzburg’s turn to break through against the run of play in the 57th minute after Kjaergaard dealt well with a long ball out of defence from Roko Simic.

The Dane found Gloukh, who rounded off a brilliant team move by shooting beyond Sommer and giving his side realistic hopes of another momentous scalp.

But Salzburg’s revival lasted just eight minutes before Frattesi fell under a careless challenge by Lucas Gourna-Douath in the box and Calhanoglu duly stepped up to send visiting keeper Alexander Schlager the wrong way.

Augusto powered a cross by Matteo Darmian straight at Schlager while Martinez blazed a good chance over the bar as Inter looked to make the game safe.

Inzaghi’s men thought they were home and dry 10 minutes from time when Frattesi’s ball across the box fell to Martinez, who fired home before VAR ruled Frattesi offside.

Salzburg failed to find the breakthrough they required and Inter played out the remaining minutes relatively comfortably to cement their status as the team to beat in Group D.