Italian Serie A leaders Juventus got lucky against an Inter Milan squad that got better as the game progressed. Juventus dominated the first half and it was not until new signing Lukas Podolski made his debut that things started to change for Inter.
Juventus took the lead early in the game, a goal scored by Carlos Tevez in the fifth minute. Juventus was attacking through the right side, a ball was given to Fernando Llorente out wide in the right side. Llorente cut in and gave a pass with his left foot to Arturo Vidal, who showed some great skill and beat Gary Medel with a one-touch move down the line and crossed the ball to the near post where Tevez was there to tap it in.
Juventus continued to dominate. Paul Pogba picked up a loose ball outside the Inter box in the 35th minute and beat two Inter defenders, but Julio Cesar came out perfect and closed his angles rapidly. Pogba shot it straight to the keeper and missed a great opportunity to make the score 2-0.
Things started to change for Inter in the 53rd minute when Podolski came on and made his debut in Serie A.
In the 64th minute, Juventus made a substitution and took out Llorente for Alvaro Morata stepped in. Right after the substitution, Gianluigi Buffon misplayed a goal kick straight to an Inter player. Freddy Guarin controlled the ball and played a brilliant throughball to Mauro Icardi. Buffon charged out for no reason as Icardi was covered by Giorgio Chiellini. Icardi hit a low shot across Buffon to make it 1-1.
After the equalizer, Inter continued to mount the pressure as Juventus looked terrible in midfield. Inter had a last clear opportunity when Leonardo Bonucci was pressured by the Icardi and lost the ball. Podolski picked up the loose ball in the half and ran 35 yards down the left side before crossing into the box for Icardi. Unfortunately for Icardi and Inter, the ball ended up going wide.
Juventus looked careless in defense and midfield, while Inter missed a great opportunity to pick up a valuable victory that could have put them tied in 9th place instead of 11th place. Juventus continues to be the leader, but are now only one point ahead of AS Roma.
(Feature image: Marco Bertorello/Getty)
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