Romelu Lukaku scored late to give Inter milan a deserved 1-0 win over Porto in their first leg of Champions League round of 16 at the Giuseppe Meazza stadium.
The game saw both teams create opportunities, but couldn’t get a breakthrough in a tight first half. Lautaro Martinez had a chance to put the ball in the back of the net, but goalkeeper Diogo Costa rose to the challenge to keep out his header.
Hakan Calhanoglu also saw his well executed effort at a tight angle tipped over by Costa for a fruitless corner kick.
The visitors however gradually came back into the game threatening to open the scoring through Marko Grujic, but he was denied by Inter’s goalkeeper Andre Onana before Galeno’s follow up header went wide to keep the score goalless at the halftime break.
Nicolo Barella came close to getting the opener, but his volleyed effort sailed wide across the goal following a through-pass from Milan Skriniar in the 52nd minute.
Moments later, Onana displayed acrobatic skills to save a double attempt from Mehdi Taremin as well as Zaidu’s effort to keep the visitors at bay.
Simon Inzaghi made a tactical double substitution when Lukaku and Robin Gosena came on for Eden Dzeko and Federico Dimarco respectively.
Barella who continued to torment Porto’s back-line on the night almost found the breakthrough but his effort narrowly missed the target in the 70th minute.
Soon Martinez missed to hit the target in close range when substitute Lukaku played a neat pass to the Argentine in the 72nd minute but the skipper was not clinical enough as the hosts became desperate for a breakthrough.
Otavio was sent off for a second bookable offense as the game grew intense in the 78th minute to give the hosts a numerical advantage.
It was then that the Belgian finally grabbed the vital breakthrough. After being denied by the upright on first attempt, he pounced on the rebound to score the winner in the 86th minute to send the fans into a frenzy.
Inter Milan will bank on their sole goal advantage in the return leg.
