Last year’s finalists Inter Milan have taken a first step towards the Champions League quarter-finals thanks to Marko Arnautovic. The Italians, who played with mourning ribbon in honor of the late Andreas Brehme, defeated Atlético Madrid 1-0 (0-0) on Tuesday evening. Substitute Arnautovic scored the goal in the 79th minute to secure a deserved victory.
Before kick-off, the spectators in Milan applauded Brehme, who played for the traditional club between 1988 and 1992 and scored eleven goals in 116 league games. The former world champion played for Inter from 1988 to 1992, so the Milanese team wore mourning. Brehme died of cardiac arrest on Tuesday night.
In a tough first leg of the round of 16 for a long time, the spectators in Milan only saw a few highlights – but when they did, Inter offered them. Captain Lautaro Martinez (36th/38th) had two good opportunities to take the lead in the first half alone.
Arnautovic in particular had the best chances. But once the Austrian aimed over it (49′), another time he shot past Atlético goalkeeper Jan Oblak (63′).
Shortly before the end, the former Bundesliga professional did better. Oblak deflected a shot from Martinez at his feet and the attacker scored the winning goal from a tight angle. The second leg will take place on March 13th in Madrid.
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Inter lead the Serie A table by nine points and are eyeing the 20th Scudetto. The leader has been undefeated since the end of September. Milan also survived the preliminary round of the Champions League without defeat, but had to settle for second place behind the surprise team Real Sociedad San Sebastián. Atltico, on the other hand, is fourth in the Spanish championship and is already eleven points behind local rivals Real.
Appeared 116 times for Inter Milan in the league: Andreas Brehme : Image: AFP
