On Wednesday night, another friendly match between two European teams took place in Toronto . The recently fashionable trend of holding test matches not in Asia, but in North America, was continued by Inter Milan and the Greek Panathinaikos. Two days ago, the Nerazzurri defeated Manchester City with a score of 3:0, so the fans had the right to expect only victory from the meeting with the Greeks. However, Panathinaikos turned out to be a much tougher nut to crack than Roberto Mancini’s squad.

The hero of the meeting was the French attack leader of the Athens club, Djibril Cissé, who led his team to victory over the current Champions League winner, scoring two goals in the first half.

Last season, Cisse scored 23 goals, and he was expected to perform great feats at the World Cup, but there is no need to remind you once again what a disaster the World Cup ended for the “tricolors.”

“It’s natural for Cissé to leave everything bad in the past and look to the future with optimism,” Panathinaikos head coach Nicholas Nioplias described his ward. “He’s been football hungry over the summer and just wants to make the upcoming season at least as good as the previous one.”

The scoring was opened in the 13th minute when, with the full connivance of the Inter defensive line, Cisse, after crossing from the flank at point-blank range, shot at Paolo Orlandoni, and then was the first to finish. Ten minutes later, Cisse took advantage of Esteban Cambiasso's mistake in the center of the field, intercepted the ball, advanced at speed towards the opponent's goal and, without meeting any resistance, powerfully shot into the corner.

“The opponent played calmly and relaxed, and when we made mistakes, they skillfully took advantage of them,” Rafael Benitez was also calm after the match. “In the second half we increased the pressure and created a lot of scoring chances, but Panathinaikos did their job well.”

You can’t envy Benitez now, although he himself says the opposite.

The Spaniard cannot escape comparisons with Jose Mourinho, who won Serie A, the Italian Cup and the Champions League last year, so every match, even a friendly, will be looked at very closely. “We have every opportunity to win trophies, it’s a big challenge and I’m very honored to be in this situation,” Benitez told TSN . “So we will try our best and win as many trophies as we can.”
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Inter soon got one back when Samuel Eto'o was able to send the ball into the goal through the palisade of Greek defenders' legs. However, pretty soon the Athenians restored the goal difference. Once again, when the Milanese made a blunder in the center of the field, the opponents implemented a three-on-two attack - after Ninis' pass, Argentinean Leto scored.

Under Mourinho, Inter did not allow themselves to do this.

During the break, Benitez made eight changes, and the Nerazzurri actually played better. Amantino Mancini could have scored twice, but first, after his shot, Panathinaikos was saved by the crossbar, and then Tzorvas was on top. 20 minutes before the end of the match, Benitez threw into battle his best forces in the person of Lucio, Maicon, Samuel, Muntari and Milito. Lucio immediately managed to quarrel with Cisse, whom Nioplias hastened to replace. In the 85th minute, Coutinho was able to get one goal back, but Inter was not capable of more.

It is worth noting that Mario Balotelli , who is being wooed to Manchester City, was again absent from the team. However, Benitez said the 19-year-old forward did not play due to injury. “There is no news about Balotelli. “Absolutely nothing has changed,” the Spaniard said.

Panathinaikos will continue their overseas tour with a match against Milan on Saturday night, and Inter will play FC Dallas on Friday night. Serie A will begin for Inter on August 30 with an away match against Bologna.

More news can be found on the off-season page

Benitez's first bitterness - Gazeta.Ru