Full-time: Wolfsburg 3-1 Inter
It’s a decent lead for the Germans, who recovered from a ropey start to well and truly put Inter on the back foot and plunder three goals. Thanks for tuning in. Now go follow Everton-Dynamo Kiev with Scott Murray...
90+3 min: Vidic stoops to head clear a fetching cross from Trasch. Wolfsburg retrieve it and Perisic tries to curl into the net from 25 yards, but hits a spectator in Row S for Shank.
90+1 min: Three more minutes. Can Inter get a second away goal? They’re pressing ...
90 min: What a miss! After surviving a mini-revival from Inter, Wolfsburg should have struck a fourth - but De Bruyne dragged his shot after his team sliced the Inter defence open.
Wolfsburg substitution: Perisic on for Vieirinha. That De Bruyne header, by the way, reminded me of this (note guest appearance by David Icke in his pre-turquoise period).
86 min: Better from Inter, as Palacio wriggles his way down the left and then picks out a good cross. But Wolfsburg eventually clear their lines.
84 min: De Bruyne gives an indication of his confidence in himself - or perhaps his lack of confidence in Carrizo - by attempting to beat the goalkeeper from over 20 yards ... with a header! And it’s a good effort too, requiring Carrizo to stretch to make the save.
83 min: Carrizo makes a comfortable save after the freekick is rolled to Rodriguez, whose shot from distance lacks venom.
82 min: Freekick to Wolfsburg in a dangerous position as Juan mows down Trasch. Before it can be taken Mancini makes another two substitutions, removing Santon and Shaqiri and introducing Kovacic and Kumanovic. Looks like they’re reverting to a back four and intend searching for another away goal. But first they must defend this freekick ...
80 min: Inter are a shambles now and, despite their move to a five-man defence, there’s every chance of them being clobbered even more. Caligiuri has just clipped a shot inches wide after being allowed to collect a corner at the edge of the area. Mancini’s men are in full meltdown...
GOAL! Wolfsburg 3-1 Inter (De Bruyne 75)
That is godawful goalkeeping! De Bruyne curled a decent freekick around the wall from 23.49 yards or thereabouts, with accuracy but not much power. Carrizo started going one way and then took an age to adjust his feet and plunge slowly in the right direction, allowing the ball to bounce into the net. Hats off to Wolfsburg and all that, but what a sorry collapse this has been by Inter.
Updated
71 min: Naldo is deservedly booked for shunting Shaqiri to the ground as the Swiss threatened to race clear on the counter-attack. The Brazilian centreback is now suspended for the second leg.
70 min: Wolfsburg substitution: Dost comes off. On bounds Nicklas Bendtner.
67 min: It’s a curious thing, but there are goats in Peru who have had as much bearing on this match as the highly-vaunted Bas Dost so far ...
65 min: Inter chase a second away goal. Palacio romps free down the right and then rolls the ball back to Icardi, who tries to pick out Guarin in the centre, but his cross is cut out.
GOAL! Wolfsburg 2-1 Inter (De Bruyne 63)
That confirms Inter’s unravelling! Carizzo committed a howler by donking the ball straight to an opponent in his own box. Vieirinha collected it and pulled the ball into the path of De Bruyne, who slotted it into the net from 12 yards!.
Updated
60 min: Naldo jumps to meet another corner but this time Inter actually challenge him and he is unable to get a clean header to it.
Inter substitution: Nemanja Vidic enters the fray in place of Hernanes, a sign of Mancini’s concern over Wolfsburg’s increased attacking threat.
57 min: Oh la la! Inter suddenly revert to their first-half slickness and dissect the Wolfsburg defence with aplomb. After a cuttign exchange between Palacio and Icardi, Palacio blasts into the sidenetting from nine yards!
55 min: This match has had an almost complete face-lift, so convincingly as the complexion changed: gone is Inter’s first-half vibrancy and now they are defending in deep, often in extremis.
53 min: Guarin’s feeling lucky ... so he tries to beat the keeper from 35 yards ... he bought the ticket but didn’t win so much as a pot of jam in the raffle.
52 min: The pressure is building from Wolfsburg. Rodriguez tonks a strong effort at goal from 25 yards. Carrizo saves well.
50 min: Dr Bruyne bangs a dangerous low cross into the box. Carrizo cuts it out, fumbles, and then recovers. “Is it a trick of the light or does Kevin De Bruyne bear a striking resemblance to a young Fernando Torres?” blurts David Wall. “Perhaps that’s why his career stalled while with Chelsea, the other players mistook him for the Spaniard and stopped passing the ball to him in anticipation of some increasingly demoralising foul-up.”
49 min: Caligiuri goes for a Norman Whiteside-style curler from the corner the box. But the keeper makes a comfortable save.
48 min: Rodriguez clips in a corner but it’s cleared at the near post.
47 min: Wolfsburg have started the second half strongly. Inter are looking a little jittery at the back in the face of constant raids.
Wolfsburg substitution: Schurrle off, Trasch on.
Half-time: Wolfsburg 1-1 Inter
It’s been a fun-filled game and I’ll stake £0.02p or my reputation, whichever is worth less, on there being more goals in the second half. “Given that Roberto Mancini’s at the helm I think you can square, or possibly even cube, the prematurity(?) of your question at minute 26,” storms Michael Aston. “That being said, it’s not like the Nerazzurri are bereft of European pedigree (though as an Interista it feels like aeons ago). Has there ever been a more sumptuous volley than Dejan’s? Even Martin Tyler was left grasping for words... And how about beating three eventual domestic league champions (Chelsea, Barcelona, and Bayern) en route to their Champions League triumph in 2010? Has any other side done that?” Well, back in the days of the European Cup, everyone did it. Even Aston Villa.
43 min: Vieirinha skips twixt two defenders and lashes a nice tasty low shot towards goal from 20 yards. Carrizo gets down well to turn it away.
41 min: A delicious ball from Icardi to Guarin, who wastes the chance.
38 min: For those of you interested, things aren’t going so well for another Italian club in this competition: the Zenit-Torino match kicked earlier than this this one and the visitors are trailing by two goals and down to 10 men. Might Andre Villas-Boas be en route to more Europa League glory? Meanwhile, Dnipro are leading 1-0 at home to Ajax.
Updated
36 min: “This is a cracking game (after an unusually prescient preamble),” gasps David Wall. “We know that Wolfsburg are a decent side given their league form this season, but given that Inter have been pretty mediocre where are they pulling this performance from?” As noted in that typically prescient preamble, Inter have improved considerably under Mancini. They’ve certainly got their tactics right tonight, though Wolfsburg have gradually come to terms with their fervent pressing and began to piece together threatening moves. Lots more twists and turns to follow, you suspect...
34 min: Another yellow card, this time for D’Ambrosio.
32 min: Wolfsburg have got their danders up now. As Santon dithers, Vieirinha cracks a low effort inches wide from just outside the box. Mancini jumps out of the dugout to urge his players to refocus.
31 min: Icardi becomes the first player to be booked. for leading with his arm as he jumped for a header. Looked a bit harsh but, as a former trainee policeman, the Wolfsburg manager Dieter Hecking might approve.
GOAL! Wolfsburg 1-1 Inter (Naldo 29)
Shades of David Luiz last night as Naldo rams a header into the net from a corner! It went straight through the arms of Carrizo, who was beaten by the power! It was slightly ropey goalkeeping and terrible defending, with Naldo being completely free.
Updated
28 min: AS if to show how premature the previous question was. Wolfsburg go mighty close to an equaliser! A brilliant cross from the left was met by Dost and the keeper had to tip it over the bar!
26 min: Inter are well on top at the moment. Which raises the question: if they win this tournament and remain ninth in Serie A, will they be the lowest ranked team to have qualified to the Champions League/European Cup? No, is th answer, as Aston Villa fans could tell you.
Updated
24 min: Wolfburg split the Italian defence with a long pass to Schurrle, who flicks the ball onto Dost before accepting the return ... and fluffing his shot from 10 yards. The former Chelsea player has been given great freedom of movement tonight - he’s popping up everywhere - but so far his normally clinical finishing has been absent.
21 min: Another excellent counter-attack by Inter, blending sped, skill and incision. It took a lunging tackle from a defender to prevent Hernanes from increasing the Italians’ lead.
20 min: Schurrle shanks a shot over the bar from the edge of the area.
18 min: An interlude as Bost receives treatment after being unintentionally clumped on the knee by a defender who was clearing the ball. It is at such moments that I wish football clubs would put on some alternative entertainment: not cheerleaders - that’s old hat - , but maybe a performance by stuntpersons while we wait for play to resume.
16 min: Dost goes down in the box as he waits for a cross from De Bruyne that never comes, just like the award of a penalty.
Updated
13 min: De Bruyne hoists over an out-swinger, which Inter clear easily. Suddenly they are romping forward on the counter-attack. Shaqiri takes it into the corner, surveys his options, and then pulls the ball back to Guarin at the edge of the area. Inter have plenty of other players forward but the COlombia goes a shot himself, and it’s blocked.
12 min: The home team crank up the pressure! Inter defenders had to be quick-witted and brave to repel a couple of wicked crosses. And now they have a corner to defend ...
11 min: The Wolfsburg defence is unhinged again by a rapid, multi-manned Inter attack. Guarin flashes a dangerous low cross into the six-yard box, but Wolfsburg recover sufficiently to whack it clear. Early doors, but so far Roberto Mancini’s men are bossing this.
9 min: Schurrle picks the ball up centrally, deep in INter territory. He slides it wide to Guilavogui, who raps a long ball into the box. Inter intervene quickly to put it behind for a corner before Bost can pounce.
7 min: Wolfsburg are looking decidedly sheepish at the moment. They can’t keep the ball for very long in the face of tigerish pressing and tackling by the visitors.
Wolfsbrug 0-1 Inter (Palacio 5)
That’s a lovely goal and fair reward for Inter’s bright start. Thanks to diligent high pressing they won the ball mid-way inside the Wolfsburg half and Icardi quickly swept it wide to Palacio, who had darted forward from deep. He kept his composure and stroked the ball past the keeper from the out-rushing edge of the area.
Updated
4 min: Santon make a crucial tackle in his own box to strip the ball off Vieirinha as the Wolfsburg.
2 min: After a bit of controlled probing, Inter work their way into the German box and Palacio finds Icardi, who twists and turns before firing a shot from 16 yards that is deflected wide for a corner. Wolfsburg tidy it up handily.
1 min: Wolfsburg get the game going...
The teams waddle out on to the pitch. Wolfsburg are wearing olive green (the colour, not the woman). Inter, like swimmers after an oil spillage, are in a mixture of black and blue.
Any Chelsea fans particularly looking forward to seeing De Bruyne and Schurrle tonight? Would you rather have seen them in action at Stamford Bridge last night? They’d have surely had a bigger impact than Ramires? And who wants Bendtner to be sprung from the bench?
Teams:
Wolfsburg: Benaglio, Caligiuri, Vieirinha, Gustavo, Knoche, Rodrgiuez, Schurrle, De Bruyne, Naldo, Dost, Guilavogui
Subs: Grun, Bendtner, Schafer, Klose, Prisic, Trasch, Jung
Inter: Carrizo, Juan, Ranocchia, Palacio, Icardi, Santon, Medel, Guarin, D’Ambrosio, Hernanes, Shaqiri
Subs: Handanovic, Andreolli, Kovacic, Vidic, Kuzmanovic, Dodo, Puscas
Referee: S Marciniak (Pol)
Updated
Preamble:
Hello and welcome to coverage of the first of this season’s Europa League round of 16 matches. That was quite a mouthful, as Jeremy Clarkson’s producer might have said, but don’t let that put you off as this promises to be an intriguing tie. For starters, it represents the beginning of an Italian attempt to annexe this tournament: there are five Italians sides in the last 16 – only once before has a country had so many representatives in this stage of an equivalent tournament in Europe. That was back in 1980, when West Germany also had five and, indeed, four of them colonised the semi-finals (while Hamburg got to the final of the continent’s premier tournament, the European Cup, showing that the country’s football was in much ruder health than Italy’s currently is, what with Juventus not being likely to reach the Champions League final – though, of course, Serie A still looks a lot smarter in continental competition than the Premier League, whose descent into decadence continues apace). So Wolfsburg will be going all out to stop the Italians from matching that feat this year.
OK, OK, that probably won’t be in their minds at all, but that doesn’t mean we can’t contemplate it. Indeed, if you want to broaden your thinking to consider German-Italian clashes as a whole, then make sure you find a place to meditate on this gorgeous goal by Dejan Stankovic during Inter’s barmy 5-2 defeat to Schalke a few years ago. That sure taught Manuel Neuer not to rush off his line again, eh?
You wouldn’t bet against a similar score tonight in favour of Wolfsburg. The side who are currently second in the Bundesliga attack with joyous abandon and plenty of skill and have already hit four goals eight times this season. There was something slightly freakish about their two defeats to Everton in the group stages, as they wasted more opportunities than an agoraphobic astronaut. And Bas Dost didn’t play in those games – the Dutch striker has been a revelation since returning from injury in late January, plundering 13 goals in his last 11 appearances. Inter will have to defend with more solidity than they have shown in Serie A this season or, indeed, in Glasgow in the last round, where they drew 3-3 with Celtic. But the Nerrazurri – or the Black and Blues, if you want to be less hifalutin’ about it - are said to be improving under Roberto Mancini, who sees this tournament has a chance to confirm his side’s progress since he went back to the club in November following this dismissal of Walter Mazzarri.
What I’m saying, folks, is don’t go anywhere!
Updated
