PEEEEEEEEP! PEEEEEEEEEP! PEEEEEEEEEEP! Chelsea 1-2 Intenazionale Milano
That was quite a game, nothing like the friendlies we've seen all summer as both teams went all out. Chelsea's limitations were highlighted by an in-form Inter starting lineup, headed by Perisic and Jovetic; but Geoffrey Kondogbia's candidate for GREATEST OWN GOAL OF ALL TIME allowed Chelsea a sneak peek back into the game that their youngsters (who'll probably be playing for Vitesse Arnhem next season) almost managed to make good of it.
Great game, thank you for reading! Anirudh Menon signing out...
95' FREEKICK FOR CHELSEA!!! Boga is brought down by the horribly out-of-form Kondogbia - and the free kick is on the edge of the box - AND IT'S STRAIGHT AT PADELLI!!!
90' Chelsea circle closer and closer but Boga's cut back is cleared away by Skriniar. Cuevas' sends in a lovely ball that Remy (two of the six subs, by the by) can't quite get to before Padelli.
88' Chelsea are making six changes. i refuse to honour this with description. SIX CHANGES WITH TWO MINUTES TO GO... DOES CONTE HAVE SOMETHING AGAINST THIS LIVE-BLOGGER'S FINGERS/BRAIN?
87' GOOOOOOOOONOOOOOOOOOOO!!! OFFSIDE!!!! FABREGAS CHIPPED IN A SUPERB BALL THAT FOUND BATSHUAYI FREE IN THE BOX, BEFORE HE SLAMMED IT INTO THE NET... He didn't look offside, to be honest!
84' Chelsea are stepping up their game here... but Inter's counters are something to behold. Eder is played in Gabigol but the Italian-Brazilian can't get it under control
81' OOO JOHNNY MUSONDA!!! The Youngster takes on Ansaldi, puts in a couple of stepovers, before smashing a goal at the side-netting via Murillo's leg. Chelsea corner... Fabregas' corner is smashed toward goal by Cahill but Padelli deals with it comfortably.
79' Chelsea smell an equalizer here and are pegging the Italians back... Kondogbia is having a torrid time, and he's pickpocketed by Kante. Batshuayi can't make much of it, though.
71' a whole draft of changes as the superb Perisic, Brozovic, Miranda and Nagotomo are taken off for Gabriel Barbossa, Christian Ansaldi, Murillo and Eder
69' Musonda's inexperience is exploited by Gagliadirni as the Italians keep Chelsea at bay... the champions of England haven't given up the ghost, though, and win a corner.
67' Perisic catalyses another Inter counter with a superb backheel to Valero. The spaniard returns the favour with a sublime ball in behind... the Croat skins Rudiger with absurd ease before trying to catch out Courtois at the near post, but he doesn't get his radar right. The Croat has been spectacular today.
65' Rudier pumps a nice little ball out wide to Moses, but D'Ambrosio does well to muscle the Nigerian off the ball and ensure Padelli can gather comfortably.
63' Joao Maria tries to dance through the middle, but David Luiz is having none of that. Moses gets upended by D'Ambrosio and Conte uses the stoppage to withdraw the disappointing Morata and the excellent Willan to give Boga and Musonda a run out against A-grade opposition.
61' WHAT A TACKLE, Skriniar! Willian skims down the right and sends in a lovely little ball that Batshuayi looks set to smash home, but Skriniar gets in ahead of him with a supreme tackle. The youngster has been excellent today.
60' From the corner, Inter counter.... OH MY JOAO MARIA!!! The Portuguese plays in Perisic with a lovely ball and the Croat sits Azpilicueta down before passing it back to Maria who is in all sorts of space inside the box. He proceeds to kick it too close to Courtois and the Belgian saves Chelsea's blushes
59' Chelsea have a lot of possession, but it's all in utterly harmless areas as Inter sit deep and sit tight - Fabregas tries to pick the lock with a chip in behind Skriniar, but the young lad does supremely well to ensure Batshuayi gets no joy out of it.
57' Inter are playing some superb football here. A lovely spinning back heel from Perisic embellishes another sweeping move that ends when Luiz scrapes clear another Candreva cross.
55' The Nigerian is found out in his first minute as a left-back by a simple ball behind him by Valero - Candreva proceeds to pass the ball straight to Courtois. Thankfully for him Mauro Icardi isn't playing - the Argentine would have ripped the Italian winger in two for delaying the ball into the box.
Sublime from the Croat. He runs onto a neat little ball from Brozovic after a lovely move involving all of Inter's attackers before skinning Azpilicueta and driving a low, hard, effort into the far post.
52' Inter have made no changes either, and this game is properly serious, I must tell you... Morata glides away from a couple of robust challenges but his ball in to the middle is cleared well.
50' Perisic toys with Azpilicueta before laying the ball off to Jovetic. The false-nine works a foot of space before attempting a curler that unfortunately ends up in the big Belgian keeper's hands
49' OH MY! HOW DID BATSHUAYI MISS THAT!!! Candreva passes the ball to Fabregas INSIDE THE INTER BOX and the Spaniard moves it forward to the Belgian forward, but somehow he contrives to side-foot it wide of goal from all of six yards away. WHAT A LET OFF FOR CANDREVA, that!
46' GOOOOOONOOOOOOO!!!OFFSIDE!!!! Inter sneak in right from the kick off and Perisic is played in on the left where he smacks it at goal. Courtois saves, but it's palmed to Jovetic who smashes it in...... IT'S CALLED OFFSIDE, and the Montenegrin was clearly NOT.
PEEP! PEEP! HALFTIME! INTER LEAD BY THE SOLITARY GOAL!
Chelsea will be right to feel hard done by and will look to correct the 'injustice', while Inter will be keen to work on their good fortune and go home with another big win under the belt.
49' Sukhbir Singh will be in the eye of the proverbial storm here - that wasn't a great call, and FIFA really should accelerate the implementation of VAR....
The Montenegrin makes a lovely little run - onto Valero's superb ball - and Azpilicueta made a clean tackle. How Sukhbir Singh gave that, only he'll know. That was NOT a penalty
44' A flippant Candreva back heel wastes a great move for Inter and Chelsea counter at pace - before Perisic forces Willian to give the ball away with another loose backheel. The Italians have done well to double on Chelsea's 'wingers'.
43' Perisic and Candreva are taking turns to cut inside around Jovetic; but Chelsea's defence has improved as the game has worn on and they shut the door tight in the opposition's face
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That was quite a game, nothing like the friendlies we've seen all summer as both teams went all out. Chelsea's limitations were highlighted by an in-form Inter starting lineup, headed by Perisic and Jovetic; but Geoffrey Kondogbia's candidate for GREATEST OWN GOAL OF ALL TIME allowed Chelsea a sneak peek back into the game that their youngsters (who'll probably be playing for Vitesse Arnhem next season) almost managed to make good of it.
Great game, thank you for reading! Anirudh Menon signing out...
Toodle-ooo!