Inter Milan look terrible in 1-0 loss at Torino

Mauro Icardi was nowhere to be found. Ivan Perisic was on the bench. Inter Milan couldn’t pass the ball out of traffic and made silly mistakes on both ends of the pitch.

Oh, and Inter played with just 10 men for the final five minutes of the match after Matteo Politano was shown a red card for diving and dissent.

The end result: A goal in the 35^th minute by Armanda Izzo allowed Torino to grab three points in a 1-0 win over the Nerazzurri in Turin Sunday.

Photo by Valerio Pennicino/Getty Images

Inter looked out of sorts for three-quarters of the match with an offense that managed very little, a midfield that could not control possession and a defense forced to play a majority of the match under pressure from a Torino side that came into the match with a +4 goal differential.

Despite the loss, Inter remained in the top four – third on 40 points – thanks to Napoli drawing 0-0 in its match with AC Milan on Saturday. The Nerazzurri fell eight points back of Napoli and were five points up on their cross-town rivals.

Outside of a 6-2 Coppa Italia win against Benevento, Inter remained winless in 2019.

Inter Milan appeared to have complete control over the first part of the first half as the offensive set of Lautaro Martinez and Icardi helped drive pressure on the Torino defense.

But, while it seemed Inter dominated the first half, they managed just seven shots with two being on target.

The Nerazzurri were riddled with sloppy passing and lack of aerial success as they managed just 66 percent accuracy on their passing and won 43 percent of their aerial duels.

It was Martinez who made the first attempt at goal in the 4^th minute, but his attempt missed just left of goal.

In the 15^th minute, Inter continued to test Salvatore Sirigu with a blast from distance that was blocked away from danger. Danilo D’Ambrosio and Icardi each took a shot at goal in the 18^th and 19^th minutes, respectively, but the danger was easily handled by Sirigu.

After that, the Nerazzurri became out of sync and were plagued by poor passing.

Torino finally capitalized when Izzo headed home a goal in the bottom left corner of the goal as Samir Handanovic seemed to be frozen on the attempt.

Only Martinez was able to get a shot on goal after that with a placement high and wide of the goal in the 45^th minute.

Andrea Belotti found his groove early in the second half with a pair of shots on goal in the 53^rd and 56^th minute, both were out of danger.

Desperately looking for a change, Luciano Spalletti went to the bench in the 54^th minute for midfielder Radja Nainggolan, who came in for the lackluster Joao Miranda.

Inter, however, continued to play on their back foot, making errant passes in the midfield that Torino was easily able to intercept. Luckily, for the first half of the second, they were unable to capitalize on Inter’s mistakes.

A poor giveaway by Milan Skriniar allowed Simone Zaza to break free and drive to goal. If not for the hustle of Stefan de Vrij, Zaza could have found the right angle to score in the 62^nd minute.

A minute after coming on for Joao Mario, Politano had Inter’s best look at goal as he wound up for a shot from distance that went just wide to the left in the 72^nd minute.

But, Inter failed to make connections on the offensive side as well as crosses either went into traffic or, in this case, way out of play:

It remained all Torino after that with Ola Aina and Iago Falque each trying their luck at goal, but falling short with their attempts.

All-in-all, it was a more-than-disappointing effort for Inter Milan as they get ready for a match up with Lazio in the Coppa Italia on Thursday, Jan. 31 followed by another home match in Serie A play against Bologna on Sunday, Feb. 3.

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