Inter scores late to draw with Schalke

An absolute blast from Jeison Murillo late in the second half gave Inter Milan a 1-1 draw with Schalke 04 in their Dragon City Cup friendly early Friday morning.

Neither team pressed the issue in the first half, but Ivan Perisic did start and play the first half for the Nerazzurri. Perisic is a target of Manchester United but the teams have not been able to reach a deal on the transfer price.

The closest either team got in the first half was a strike by Yuto Nagatomo that was cleared out by Daniel Caliguiri late in the half.

"We looked very tidy in the first half and strung some really good moves together,” said Inter boss Luciano Spalletti to the team’s website. “We have something we can build on in training and improve further.”

It was Caliguiri that put the Bundesliga side on the board first in the 60^th minute when he took a pass from Bernard Tekpetey and slid past Nagatomo to fire beyond the reach of Samir Handanovic.

The Nerazzurri had an opportunity shortly after the Royal Blue took the lead, but Gabriel Barbosa could not connect on the attempt.

In the 73^rd minute Murillo drove in from the right and connected on a left-footed blast that curled into the upper 90 for the equalizer.

Inter nearly picked up a win after Pablo Insua nearly scored an own-goal, but it was halted before crossing the line.

“We're moving in the right direction, though. I saw the right attitude and they kept it up for the whole game. If we carry on like this, we'll improve,” Spalletti said. “I saw the right ideas both in the first half and in the second. We gave the ball away cheaply at times but overall we did well.”

Now, the Nerazzurri will travel to Nanjing to open the International Champions Cup 2017 against Olympique Lyon on July 24 and a trip to Singapore to face Bayern Munich on July 27 and Chelsea on July 29 in back-to-back meetings with respective league champions.

Dragon City Cup

at Changzhou

July 21, 2017

Inter 1-1 Schalke

Schalke 0 1 — 1

Inter 0 1 — 1

First half: none. Second half: Caligiuri (Schalke) 60, Murillo (Inter) 73.

Inter: Handanovic (GK), D'Ambrosio (Murillo 69), Skriniar (Valietti 79), Miranda (Ranocchia 69), Nagatomo; Gagliardini (Pinamonti 69), Kondogbia (Borja Valero 46), Candreva (Joao Mario 46), Brozovic (Biabiany 69), Perisic (Gabigol 46); Eder (Jovetic 46).

Subs not used: Padelli, Berni, Vanheusden, Rivas.

Coach: Luciano Spalletti.

Schalke 04: Nubel (GK), Mc Kennie (Reese 46), Bentaleb, Konoplyanka (Insua 80), Stambouli, Caligiuri (Wright 64, Avdlijaj 82), Burgstaller (Hemmerich 46), Oczipka (Geis 46), Harit (Tekpetey 46), Naldo, Nastasic (Cole 80).

Subs not used: Wieszolek, Sam, Uchida.

Coach: Domenico Tedesco.