Thuram grabs double as Inter ease past hosts Ajax
AMSTERDAM : Marcus Thuram powered home two headed goals as Inter Milan banished the demons of last season’s Champions League final and won their opening game of the new group campaign 2-0 at Ajax Amsterdam on Wednesday.
Inter were hammered 5-0 by Paris St Germain in May’s final and came into Wednesday’s clash at the Johan Cruyff Arena after successive defeats in Serie A but proved too strong for their Dutch hosts with the French international taking centre stage.
Thuram stole in at the near post, attacking Hakan Calhanoglu’s corner and getting ahead of the Ajax defenders to turn in a powerful header three minutes before halftime to open the scoring.
His second goal came two minutes into the second half from another Calhanoglu corner, but this time he was more central and climbed above the home defence to score easily.
Thuram, taking the attacking lead with Inter captain Lautaro Martinez on the substitutes’ bench because of a bad back, had a busy first half as he went close with a 33rd minute effort only inches off target in the first clear opportunity for the visitors.
One minute later, Thuram was awarded a penalty by English referee Michael Oliver after being pulled back by defender Youri Baas. However, a VAR review showed Thuram had first tugged on Baas’ shirt and the official cancelled the penalty.
In the 40th minute, Ajax had a clear break as Mika Godts beat the offside trap and was one-on-one with Inter goalkeeper Yann Sommer but the veteran Swiss international stuck out a foot to make a goal-saving stop.
That was as close as Ajax came as Inter then took the game by the scruff of the neck and dominated proceedings, returning to winning ways after losing to Udinese and Juventus in their last two Serie A matches and taking some pressure off new coach Cristian Chivu, who was a former Ajax captain.
"We wanted a result after two bad defeats, even though we had performed well. We did well to take the lead and manage the game without suffering too much,” said Inter's Dutch defender Stefan de Vrij.
Ajax, returning to the Champions League for the first time in three seasons, were playing their 500th game in European club competition.
Inter are next at home in the Champions League to Slavia Prague on September 30, while Ajax play away at Olympique de Marseille the same night.
(Writing by Mark Gleeson in Cape Town; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne and Pritha Sarkar)
