Chai! Leipzig own goal puts Inter at top of Champions League

 




An own goal by RB Leipzig defender Castello Lukeba gave Inter Milan a 1-0 home win  on Tuesday, putting the Italian champions provisionally at the top of the table. 


Now, Inter has a lot of reasons to be glad. 


Unbeaten Inter lead the table with 13 points from five games, one ahead of second-placed Barcelona, ​​who beat Brest 3-0, and third-placed Liverpool, who have played fewer games and feature defending champions Real Madrid, on Wednesday. 


Imagine! 13 points!


The team dominated the first half and took the lead in the 27th minute when Lukeba smashed the ball into Leipzig's own net from a Federico Di Marco free kick. 


Di Marco, making his first Champions League start of the season, crossed into the penalty area and the ball bounced  off the 21-year-old's foot. 


The hosts looked certain to win comfortably, but Simone Inzaghi's side were well down the table after the break. 


Leipzig sensed their chances and were getting better and better in the game. Inter goalkeeper Yann Sommer made a superb save to keep out Antonio Nusa's low shot in the 69th minute. 


The visitors, who came into the game one of five teams to have lost their first four games, were without midfielder Xavi Simons, who was ruled out with an ankle injury. 


Also missing was defender Lukas Klostermann, who added to an already long  list of absentees after being subbed off at half-time with a calf injury in Saturday's 4-3 defeat to Hoffenheim. Meanwhile, Inter were able to call up Hakan Calhanoglu, who is eligible after recovering from a thigh injury, and Lautaro Martinez started up front alongside Mehdi Taremi after the Argentine striker was unfit after returning for international duty. 


Inter continued to tread on thin ice and almost equalised in added time when Henrikh Mkhitaryan thought he had doubled the lead, only for the goal to be disallowed for a foul on Marcus Thuram.


Let's see what's up in the next coming weeks.

Post a Comment

Previous Post Next Post