crespo strikes knockout blow published: thursday 23 november 2006, 0.45cet
fc ınternazionale milano 1-0 sporting cp hernán crespo's fine half-volley sent ınter through to the last 16 while ending the lisbon club's challenge.
by richard aikman from san siro
hernán crespo's fine first-half strike proved enough for fc ınternazionale milano to qualify for the last 16 and end sporting clube de portugal's hopes of advancing from group b.
all to play for the nerazzurri took to the field knowing that unless they won, they would be left facing a difficult trip to fc bayern münchen in two weeks' time, but the argentinian forward's first uefa champions league goal in just under a year – his last came 364 days ago for chelsea fc – means ınter will now compete for section supremacy in bavaria. sporting still have the uefa cup to play for, and will enter that competition with a home draw against fc spartak moskva on matchday 6.
grosso strikes defender rodrigo tello had said beforehand that sporting would be happy with a point and coach paulo bento's decision to deploy alecsandro alone in attack appeared to endorse that view. however, a five-man midfield gave the visitors plenty of early possession, with joão moutinho and custódio prominent. sporting's achilles heel, though, was their tendency to give away fouls on the edge of the area when under pressure, enabling fabio grosso to try his luck with two fierce set-pieces – both of which swerved outside rather than inside the left-hand post – within the first quarter of an hour.
crespo opener maicon's 13th-minute foul on alecsandro, for which he was booked, set the tone for a fractious 20 minutes punctuated by mistimed tackles and errant passing. defender marco caneira had to go off with a foot injury to be replaced by i, who also limped out of the fray soon after. undeterred, sporting kept their shape and had their first shot on goal when pontus farnerud fired wide on the half-hour, before tonel rose five minutes later to head tello's free-kick centimetres to the right of the far post. he was made to pay for that miss within seconds as dejan stanković's delicious chipped pass over the visiting defence set crespo free and the no18 unleashed an unstoppable half-volley past ricardo from just inside the area.
tello effort bento's men stuck to their neat passing approach, however, and almost conjured a breakthrough of their own from a quickly-taken short corner on 40 minutes. tello had time to send in a low shot but marco materazzi stretched to deflect the goal-bound effort over the bar. at the other end, crespo nearly scored from ınter's next corner, eluding his marker at the front post to glance stanković's centre over the woodwork.
creative skills sporting introduced the creative talent of carlos martins on the hour in a bid to change things but his injury-depleted side struggled to carve out noteworthy opportunities against a solid ınter rearguard. the home team were not so assured in attack either as crespo failed to turn in grosso's 78th-minute cross with the goal gaping - although his work, and ınter's, was done.
