Inter Women come from behind to beat Grasshopper in friendly

David Sassarini's new-look Inter Women side enjoyed a winning start to pre-season, coming from behind to beat Grasshopper in Locarno. Played at the Stadio del Lido, the friendly saw the Nerazzurre fight back twice against the Swiss outfit. Polli cancelled out Ljustina's opener in the first half before goals from Santi and Detruyer overturned McKenna's second-half strike to seal a 3-2 victory. It was an encouraging first outing for Inter, who will head to Val di Pejo for a pre-season training camp from 25 July to 1 August.

David Sassarini lined up his first Inter side in a 4-4-2 formation, with three new signings – Garcia, Van Diemen and Raphino – all included in the starting XI. Grasshopper created the first chance of the game after eight minutes, but Ljustina's effort sailed over the bar. Inter looked to respond through Polli, once again operating in her familiar creative role behind the attack. She twice attempted to pick out Raphino and Glionna with incisive through balls, but neither move came to fruition. The Swiss side took the lead on 31 minutes through Ljustina, but Inter responded well and were back on level terms just six minutes later. The move began with a cross from Glionna that found Bartoli, whose effort crashed against the bar. Raphino reacted quickest to the rebound but was denied by Vicario Casal, who, however, could do nothing to stop Polli from turning home the loose ball and scoring Inter Women's first goal of pre-season. Tomaselli went close to putting the Nerazzurre ahead just before the break, but her header from another Glionna delivery finished off target.

Inter made wholesale changes at the break, with an entirely new XI taking to the pitch, including another new Nerazzurre signing, Le Bihan. As in the first half, it was the Swiss side who struck first, regaining the lead on 54 minutes when McKenna raced through on goal and found the net. Santi went close to equalising four minutes later, but the midfielder fired over after the Grasshopper defence had only partially cleared the danger. Just past the hour mark, Inter produced a flowing move involving Le Bihan, Robustellini and Detruyer, but the latter couldn't direct her header on target. The Nerazzurre finally drew level on 64 minutes. Vilhjálmsdóttir delivered a cross to the far post, where Bugeja nodded the ball into the path of Santi, who calmly beat the goalkeeper with a right-footed finish. Goalkeeper Forcinella then made her Inter debut on 70 minutes, before the decisive goal arrived five minutes later. Detruyer's strike from a tight angle on the right turned into a dangerous cross-shot that slipped through the Grasshopper goalkeeper's grasp and into the net to make it 3-2. Inter continued to create chances in the closing stages, with Paz drawing a routine save from the goalkeeper and Bugeja, picked out superbly by Giudici, striking the post.

GRASSHOPPER 2-3 INTER

Goals: 31' Ljustina (G), 37' Polli (I), 54' McKenna (G), 64' Santi (I), 75' Detruyer (I)

GRASSHOPPER: 1 Vicario Casal; 6 Lempérière, 8 Ljustina, 12 McKenna, 15 Cazalla Garcia, 21 Egli, 24 Looser, 27 Muller, 32 Storni, 33 Maddaloni, 90 Ippolito. Unused substitutes: 3 Brunner, 23 Avduli, 25 Bandia, 26 Wegmann, 35 Theiler, 37 Lamontana. Coach: Laura Vetterlein

INTER (4-4-2): 1 Runarsdottir (99 Belli 46' (12 Forcinella 70')); 15 Garcia (28 Verrini 46'), 4 Van Diemen (24 Milinkovic 46'), 5 Andrés (46 Bressan 46'), 33 Bartoli (14 Robustellini 46'); 18 Glionna (20 Detruyer 46'), 10 Magull (6 Santi 46'), 16 Tomasevic (8 Vilhjalmsdottir 46' (29 Giudici 76')), 21 Tomaselli (11 Le Bihan 46'); 9 Polli (19 Paz 46' (38 Ciurleo 85')), 26 Raphino (7 Bugeja 46'). Unused Substitutes: - Coach: David Sassarini