The game starts exactly as expected: Inter on the ball from the very first second, settled in the attacking half, and Torino comfortable dropping their lines, closing spaces and waiting for a mistake. There wasn’t even that typical early pressure of big matches, it was positional attack straight away against an organised block.
Torino press in a basic way, without pushing too high, simply trying to cut passing lanes and force quick decisions. Inter have possession, but don’t accelerate. They control, circulate, but create little. The first shot comes early, with Bonny turning and finishing easily for Paleari, more of a warning than real danger. Carlos Augusto then tries to unlock the game with an intentional shot from outside the box that hits the crossbar and until then, the most dangerous moment of the match.
The game stays flat for long minutes, until Inter find the goal on 35. Kamaté wins down the right, reaches the byline and crosses hard. Bonny, positioned in the six-yard box, heads it in. A fair goal in the context of the game, even without much brilliance.
The second half starts with a more direct Inter and the 2-0 comes early. Thuram does everything right in the move, protects the ball, creates space and puts it where it has to go. Diouf attacks the space with hunger and scores the first goal of his career for Inter. Game apparently under control.
But the advantage brings a false sense of security. Inter slightly drop their intensity, Torino gain courage and get their goal. Pedersen crosses, Josep Martínez comes out badly and Kulenović takes advantage of the open goal to reduce. A clear goalkeeper error that relaunches the game.
From there until the end, Torino believe. They don’t sit back, they try to equalise, force balls into the box, even have a goal disallowed for offside. Inter control as they can, more through experience than quality and hold the result until the final whistle.
Post-game
Inter go through in the Coppa Italia, but didn’t deliver a calm performance. They had the ball, had control in several moments, but never managed to kill the game.
Torino go out, but with their heads held high. They competed the way they could, scored two goals, although one was disallowed, created danger and showed why this kind of knockout match is never as simple as it looks on paper.
Diouf lives a special night with his first goal for the club, Thuram was decisive in his movements and Josep Martínez almost complicated everything with a disastrous coming out. On the other side, Torino pay dearly for their lack of composure in the final minutes.
Inter advance, but the warning remains: controlling isn’t enough. You need to decide better.