Inter 3 - 1 Villarreal. Nerazzurri continue their pre - season progression

SAN BENEDETTO DEL TRONTO - It was yet another positive performance from Luciano Spalletti’s side on Sunday evening, as they continued their pre-season preparations with a 3-1 win over Villarreal in San Benedetto del Tronto. 

The first chance of the match fell to Eder in the ninth minute, although the striker was unable to find the target following a fine pass from Joao Mario, with his strike going wide of the post. However, the Nerazzurri’s No. 23 made no mistake come the 26th minute, as he did extremely well to lose Fernandez and get on the end of an Antonio Candreva cross, subsequently directing his strike past the goalkeeper. Villarreal’s equaliser arrived 14 minutes later thanks to a poacher’s finish from Roberto Soldado. The attentive forward capitalised on a rebound, after Handanovic initially produced a strong save to keep out Sansone.  

Both coaches opted to make a number of changes during the second half of the friendly, which saw Inter start in strong fashion. Coincidentally, their second goal of the game came in the 67th minute, with Stevan Jovetic finding the back of the net with a superb finish from the edge of the box. Spalletti’s side finally sealed the victory in the 90th minute, with second-half substitute Mauro Icardi playing a precise through ball for Brozovic, who made no mistake in placing the ball past Barbosa. 

The Nerazzurri will now prepare for their next friendly against Real Betis, scheduled to take place on Saturday 12th August in Lecce. 

INTER-VILLARREAL 3-1

Goalscorers: 26' Eder, 40' Soldado, 67' Jovetic, 90' Brozovic

INTER: 1 Handanovic; 33 D'Ambrosio (64' 15 Ansaldi), 37 Skriniar (80' 13 Ranocchia), 25 Miranda (64' 24 Murillo), 55 Nagatomo; 5 Gagliardini (46' 7 Kondogbia), 20 Borja Valero (72' 9 Icardi); 87 Candreva (46' 77 Brozovic), 10 Joao Mario (64' 6 Vecino), 44 Perisic (72' 96 Barbosa); 23 Eder (64' 8 Jovetic)Substitutes: 27 Padelli, 46 BerniCoach: Luciano Spalletti

VILLARREAL: 13 Fernandez (46' 25 Barbosa), 2 Mario Gaspar (82' 30 Pau), 6 Victor Ruiz (75' 4 Semedo), 8 Pablo (66' 20 Soriano), 9 Soldado (66' 17 Bakambu), 10 Samu Castillejo (82' 19 Leo Suarez), 14 Trigueros, 16 Rodrigo (87' 33 Chuca), 18 Sansone (66' 15 Unal), 22 Rukavina, 23 Bonera (75' 3 Alvaro)Substitutes: 26 RamiroCoach: Fran Escribà

Added time: 2' + 5'

Referee: Michael FabbriAssistants: Filippo Valeriani - Pasquale De Meo