ITALY: SOCCER / FOOTBALL - Hernan Crespo strike takes Inter Milan through to last 16 of Champions League

Inter Milan went through to the last 16 in the Champions League after a Hernan Crespo strike gave them a 1-0 win over Sporting Lisbon in Group B on Wednesday (November 22), eliminating the Portuguese side. Inter go through to the next stage along with group leaders Bayern Munich who drew 2-2 at Sporting Moscow - the two qualified sides face each other in the final group game in Munich. The decisive goal came in the 36th minute when Inter's Serbian midfielder Dejan Stankovic played the ball over the top to Crespo who unleashed a fierce first time shot past Sporting keeper Ricardo. Sporting produced some smart approach play but were unable to create clear cut chances and it was Inter who came closest to scoring in the latter stages. "In the end, I think (Inter Milan's) victory is a fair one" said Sporting Lisbon coach Paulo Bento. "We lost a game but also an objective. From tomorrow, we'll start getting ready for a new objective" he added. "We didn't manage to do (what we wanted) and we paid for it. But we also paid for the mistakes we did in the begininning of the game, which allowed them to score a goal that we should have and could have avoided", Bento explained during a post-game news conference. Inter coach Roberto Mancini opted to start with Portuguese winger Luis Figo on the bench against his former club and gave Stankovic an advanced role behind the front two. Mancini thought his side had made a dream start in just the second minute when Swedish forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic fed his Argentine strike partner Crespo, who slotted home from inside the area but Belgian referee Frank De Bleeckere ruled the effort out for offside. Sporting were lively in midfield and testing Inter on the flanks but they suffered two early injury setbacks - Marco Caneira limped off with what appeared to be a muscle strain in the 13th minute and then 13 minutes later the man who had replaced him, Abel, also had to go off with Miguel Veloso taking his spot. The Lisbon side's problems increased when Crespo fired Inter ahead in the 36th minute latching on to a pass from Stankovic and firing past Ricardo with a confident first time shot. While Inter looked sharp going forward, Sporting were able to find plenty of space in front of the Italian defence. The neat approach play and smart touches from the Portuguese were not enough to really trouble Inter though with a deflected shot from Chilean Tello, which flashed over the bar, the nearest Sporting came to forcing a save out of Julio Cesar in the first half. Sporting, who had lost on their last five visits to Italy, brought on attacking midfielder Carlos Martins for Pontus Farnerud early in the second half as they sought a way to get something out of the game and keep their qualification hopes alive. Inter were increasingly cautious but went close to a second in the 75th minute when Fabio Grosso, Italy's World Cup winning left-back, burst down the flank and fired over a low cross which a sliding Crespo was just inches away from. Four minutes from the end Sporting striker Alecsandro then flashed a near post header from a Tello corner just wide of the post but with the visitors pushing forward, Crespo showed his danger again with a close range shot that Ricardo did well to parry. Ricardo was at full stretch to push an Ibrahimovic drive wide of the post in injury time and although Ivan Cordoba had to produce some alert defending in the final seconds, Inter never really had to sweat as they held on to their narrow lead. "From how things were going we didn't think we'd get to today's game and that it would have been decisive for our qualification" Inter Milan's coach, Roberto Mancini, said. "The boys were good because they believed in it also when things got difficoult. But let's not forget that the two games we had lost, we lost when we were 10 in the field, once for 30 minutes, once for 40 minutes" he added.

ITN Source | November 24, 2006

Tags:. .fed. .corner. .avoided. .alive. .carlos