FC Internazionale Milano 2-1 Urawa Red Diamonds | Group E
Internazionale goals: Lautaro Martinez (77), Valentin Carboni (90+2)
Urawa Red Diamonds goal: Ryoma Watanabe (11)
Urawa Red Diamonds were cruelly dumped out of the FIFA Club World Cup™ by Italian giants FC Internazionale Milano after a pair of late goals denied them a famous result.
Ryoma Watanabe’s early strike looked like it was going to be enough to send shockwaves through the tournament but was captain Lautaro Martinez who rode to Inter’s rescue with a stunning bicycle kick before substitute Valentin Carboni won it in stoppage time.
Despite dominating the opening ten minutes, the Nerazzurri found themselves behind early on in Seattle.
Watanabe had teammate Takuro Kaneko to thank for providing the opening goal on a plate. The winger produced some hypnotic footwork to go past two Inter players on the right before delivering a pinpoint cross for Watanabe to turn home via the aid of a slight deflection.
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Inter rallied after the early suckerpunch and Martinez was a crossbar’s width away from netting an equalising header minutes later. The J-League outfit held firm in the face of constant probing in the second half as the UEFA Champions League finalists began to apply the pressure to their opponents.
Maciej Skorza’s men finally cracked, however, with 12 minutes of normal time left when their Argentinian talisman produced an acrobatic finish from a corner to level the score.
With the match heading towards a draw it looked as though it would be all to play for in Group E heading into the final matches until substitute Valentin Carboni turned the ball home from a rebound in the second minute of stoppage time to break the Reds’ hearts and set his side on track for the Round of 16.
Quotes
“The boys played a good match, a serious game. We tried in every possible way to score, to create some trouble for a well-organized team that defended very deep. Then in the second half, we tried to take advantage of crosses by bringing on Pio Esposito. We believed until the very end, and we did it. The boys made me proud because it was never going to be easy playing against such an organized team, but they gave everything they had today, and in the end, we brought it home.”
Cristian Chivu, Internazionale Head coach
“What mattered was winning. We messed up the first match, and we knew today would be tough as well. I come from South America, and I’ve seen how much heart players put in even in other continents — and today was no different. I didn’t even see my goal: when the ball came in from the corner, I thought, ‘this is my chance,’ and everything became easier from there.”
Lautaro Martinez, Internazionale Captain
“The result is for us very bad of course, we are out from the tournament. We were trying to control this game, of course our intention was to keep our defence line a little bid upper but it was very difficult because Inter didn’t allow us to do it. The team did a great job in defence. They were working very hard but the circumstance we conceded the second goal in the additionl time for us was very very disappointing.”
Maciej Skorża, Urawa Reds Head coach
“Before it ended that way, we had some good moments, but we couldn’t convert our chances into goals, myself included. I think that made the difference. As the coach told us before the match, we weren’t going to get three points unless we made the most of our few chances. It was good to score the first goal, but maybe something was missing on our side. I felt we could’ve had more of those good periods, and we should have. That’s an area we need to improve as a team. We still have one more game. We shouldn’t treat it like a dead rubber.”
Ryoma Watanabe, Urawa Reds midfielder
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Ryoma Watanabe (Urawa Reds)
