Late goal preserves a point for Inter Milan

All the talk in the pregame buildup was about the 70,000 plus fans expected at the San Siro, eager to see the Nerazzurri continue their outstanding start to the season. Luciano Spalletti once again named an unchanged lineup. The lack of European football means that the same lineup can be used more often.

This will certainly help in building chemistry on the offensive side of the game. Sinisa Mihajlovic's starting eleven had no less than four former Inter players – Burdisso, Obi, Ansaldi, and Ljajic.

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The game began true form with Inter making all of the early chances. Borja Valero connected with Candreva on the right flank. He was unfortunate to not have anyone in an Inter shirt making a run into the box to meet his cross. A minute later, the Roman put in another cross that narrowly missed Icardi. The early pressure also got the vast Inter support in the stands involved in the game.

While not always the most accurate with his crossing, in this game Candreva would go on to become Inter's main threat. He was able to combine with D'Ambrosio effectively on numerous occasions to provide an outlet to Inter down the right.

Candreva connected with Icardi on multiple occasions in the first half but it seemed like the Inter captain did not have his shooting boots on this afternoon. There were also instances of heavy touches and misplaced passes, with the early wet pitch conditions no doubt not helping the players. Overall, Inter's attacking display was disjointed and somewhat lacked in intensity.

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Anyone wanting to see cameo of why Skriniar is getting such high praise needs to watch the game between minutes 29 and 31, as the young Inter center back first dispossessed Belotti with a brilliant interception. Next, he showed why his game is much more than one-on-one play as he calmly cut out a dangerous cross from Torino's Iago Falque.

Meanwhile, Torino were letting themselves down after getting into promising situations due to poor crossing from the wide areas. Cristian Ansaldi showed glimpses of why Inter fans were none too unhappy to see him leave.

Inter's best chance of the half perhaps fell to Skriniar, whose header from a Candreva corner was acrobatically saved by Sirigu. Aside from that, a curious dummy from a free kick by Borja Valero not just fooled Torino but also his own captain – back to the drawing board with that one!

The story of the half was perhaps Torino's display. Daniele Baselli had a wonderful opportunity to open the scoring but his shot was denied by Handanovic's fingertips. Belotti pressuring Skriniar to close out the first half was more than enough warning that Torino were not here to just make up the numbers.

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Torino built on their first half by starting the second half positively. Having withstood the early Inter pressure, they were now matching Inter for possession and even creating the more dangerous chances.

On the 60th minute mark, De Silvestri connected with Iago Falque but the latter still had plenty to do on the edge of the box. Despite having a crowd of Inter defenders around him, the Spaniard managed to dribble around them and sent a blistering shot into the bottom corner that Handanovic could do nothing about.

Just like that, Inter had conceded again and were now trailing at home with the pressure of 70,000 eager fans bearing down on them. The next 20 minutes would be a great test of this team's character. Would they crumble in the face of adversity? Would there be a late goal again? What would Spalletti do to turn the result?

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Torino, however had found even more confidence from the goal and were now playing some crisp passes in their attacking third. Inter were making life even harder for themselves by complicating things in defense. Trying to play out from the back, Gagliardini put Skriniar in a tough spot facing his own corner flag. The young Slovakian had to concede a foul, picking up a yellow card in the process. These were nervy moments for Inter and it almost got worse a minute later. Adem Ljajic put in a dangerous cross from the ensuing free kick and Joel Obi had a gilt-edged chance to score against his former team and double Torino's lead.

With Inter desperately needing to find a goal from somewhere, Spalletti turned to his super-sub Eder, who replaced Gagliardini. By this time, Torino were more than content to sit back and protect their lead. Inter while having majority of the possession, could not make it count for much. An over hit pass by Vecino and a sliced effort by Eder somewhat symbolized Inter's attacking display - missed chances, inaccurate passes, and long periods of unimaginative play.

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With Inter going all-out for an equalizer, the game was ripe for Torino to counter-attack. Bellotti missed a shot on target in the 76th minute but the away side's counter-attacks were looking ever more threatening.

Desperately looking for a goal, Spalletti brought on Brozovoic for Nagatomo and Inter switched to a back three with D'Ambrosio, Miranda, and Skriniar. Inter were now in their favorite time of the match as far as goal scoring is concerned, having score more goals than any other team in Serie A in the final 15 minutes. For the first time in the match, it looked like Inter had really put a siege on Torino's goal and were playing a vigor that was previously lacking.

All that pressure finally told as Candreva found Perisic, who put in a pin-point cross into Icardi. The captain showed maturity and composure in front of goal. Instead of snatching at the opportunity, he saw Eder completely unmarked and squared the ball through to him. With the simplest of finishes, Inter's super-sub had brought them level. Another goal for Inter in the final 15 minutes.

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Both teams had opportunities in the final ten minutes but the best of them fell to Inter, as a long distance shot from Matias Vecino thundered into the goal post. Inter might well be leading the list of number of shots hitting the woodwork this season. While the home side might consider themselves unlucky to not be ahead, they also had luck to thank for not conceding more.

On the balance of play, a draw was perhaps a fair result, even if a little frustrating from an Inter (Inter Milan) standpoint. After going behind, what this team showed was promising, yet displayed evidence that they are by no means the finished article and any talk of Scudetto is premature and absurd. Onto the international break now and Atalanta after that.

Forza Inter!