Inter Milan's Valentin Carboni celebrates scoring his team's second goal against Urawa Reds
Two late goals ensured Inter Milan maintained Europe’s unbeaten record against Asian opposition at the FIFA Club World Cup (CWC), beating Urawa Red Diamonds 2-1 in the Group E clash in Seattle and eliminating the Japanese side from the competition.
Inter wanted to make amends after becoming the first Italian side to fail to win a CWC match in their draw with Monterrey, and despite having nearly 90% possession in the opening 10 minutes, they found themselves a goal down when Urawa scored with their first meaningful attack.
Takuro Kaneko cut in from the right wing, leaving defenders in his wake to tee up Ryoma Watanabe, who steered the Japanese club in front - their first CWC goal against a European side at the third attempt.
The goal did nothing to stop Inter’s dominance of the ball, though they did little with it until the 19th minute, when Lautaro Martinez cannoned Kristjan Asllani’s cross against the crossbar.
That was the closest they came in the first 45 minutes, which saw potshots from Nicola Zalewski and Nicolo Barella but nothing to trouble Shusaku Nishikawa in the Reds’ goal.
Watanabe's opening goal for Urawa Reds
The Nerazzurri were forced to try and break through a deep-lying Urawa defence in the second half, and it took 10 minutes for them to have a shot, courtesy of Asllani’s 20-yard drive.
Soon after, Federico Dimarco and Francesco Pio Esposito tried their luck with spectacular volleys, but neither could keep their strikes down.
Asllani continued to be busy as Inter had six efforts without finding the target before they were almost hit by a swift Urawa counterattack, only for Watanabe to blaze his shot over.0
That miss briefly looked critical when Barella squared to Henrikh Mkhitaryan, but the substitute planted his effort wide from an ideal position.
However, 12 minutes from time, the Italian side got themselves out of trouble thanks to Martinez, who met a Barella corner with a tremendous overhead volley which he flicked through a crowd and past Nishikawa.
Match momentum
A Barella header nodded wide two minutes from time looked to be Inter’s best chance of a winner, until two minutes into stoppage time, when a ball into the box found its way to Valentin Carboni, who guided it into the bottom corner.
That late goal takes Inter to four points ahead of their meeting with River Plate, while defeat for Maciej Skorza’s side means Asian clubs are still without a win in this year’s competition.
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