World champion Lautaro Martínez’s penalty dashed Red Bull Hamburg’s Champions League round of 16 dreams on Wednesday. “Unworthy,” said full-back Amar Dedic of the 0-1 home defeat against Inter Milan. It was a battle of equals for a long time, but ultimately tribute had to be paid to the maturity and quality of last season’s finalists. The missed penalty also left the home team really angry.
In the 23rd minute, striker Roko Simic was brought down by Carlos Augusto in the penalty area, but referee Serdar Gozubuyuk’s whistle remained silent, as did VAR. “Of course it would have been different if you had taken a 1-0 lead, we could have regained belief, hope and courage,” said coach Gerhard Struber, whose team had beaten Milan 2-1 on penalties just two weeks earlier. Was defeated by. The kick was missed again after a foul on Simic.
“We haven’t had much luck in this direction either, you have to be honest,” Struber said. “Obviously it is not so easy for the referee to understand our dynamics at this pace.” Simic was clearly disappointed. “It should have been a penalty, I don’t know what VAR did,” the striker complained. “It was the same at San Siro and it was exactly the same here. Maybe it’s because we are a small team,” speculated the Croatian.
This “small” but above all very young team dominated the action even in the first half hour, only then did the Italians show themselves worthy of becoming Serie A leaders. However, Salzburg held their own until the end, although they made poor decisions in some offensive situations. “The coolness in front of goal was missing,” complained midfielder Mads Bidstrup, while central defender Samson Baidu, replacing the injured Omar Soulet, missed “the last pass in the final third.”
Struber did not see it in the least as a question of experience. “You can see that Inter is a very mature team in special moments where there is very little time and space to make the right decisions. We are very young and you can see it in these moments. Games like this show us that,” said the Salzberg native. The fact that Inter were able to bring on world champion Martínez, who scored the decisive penalty after Bidstrup’s handball in the 85th minute, or European champion Nicolo Barella from the bench shows very clearly the depth of the team.
“We have invested a lot and implemented our tactical disciplines in the way you would expect from us,” Struber said, adding that this time his team will play in a 4-2-2-2 and, like Milan, will use a concise Letting it happen with the center. That certainly came in handy. “You can see that with such a spirit, if we stick to the strategic plan, we can keep up with such amazing teams,” Struber explained. And Inter’s defense is also “very well organized, very stable and confident. It never panics.”
Unlek Bidstrup praised his team for a “top performance”. We executed the game plan really well,” Dane said. The fact that the ball accidentally hit his hand during Barela’s shot meant a knockout. “It really hurts me that I got the penalty, I take it on myself,” the 22-year-old said, admitting having to fight for third place.
