Djurgården - Färjestad3 - 5
INTER - CESENA 1 1
The Romagna seahorse snatches an excellent and convincing point at San Siro
Let's make this clear from the start. I never truly thought that we could win even if we were ahead at the end of the first half. The only time Cesena won at San Siro vs. Inter Milan was 40 years ago, I would have signed for a draw before the match, especially considering that Brienza, Cesena's pivot, Cesena's playmaker n. 1, was on the bench, injured.
Inter too was missing a few important players, fortunately for Cesena they are playing the Europa League, which is draining a lot of energies and men out of them.
With Brienza out of the match I thought that we would need the perfect match to snatch a point. In the end it was not Cesena's perfect match that made the difference, but Inter's unability to find the last winning touch.
The first half hour it's basically Inter who outplay the romagnoli, but just when you least expect it, Carbonero, the Colombian mid-fielder that Cesena bought from River Plate last summer but who has so far disappointed, to say the least, paints a magic assist for Gregoire Defrel, which the skilled French striker does not fail to capitalise with a majestic "pallonetto". A superb goal which dumbed the (half empty, for a change) San Siro. Inter's attempts to draw are twarted by a majestic Krajnc and a very good Mudingayi.
But as soon as the second half starts it's clear that the music is about to change. First Icardi is denied a superb goal for an ill-judged off-side position and soon after he again capitalizes on a mistake by Mudingayi in mid-field . His assist to Palacio is perfect, Krajnc and Capelli lose sight of Palacio who scores a quite easy goal from a few metres away from Leali. At this point Inter is playing very well and Cesena players seem to be gripped by fear. A fear shared by all its fans who now know that the risk of being thrashed by the black and blue is in the air. But, and this is the difference between Bisoli's Cesena and Mimmo Di Carlo's Cesena, today's black and white seahorse are not afraid to give it a try in the attack and don't just play in order to not be defeated but try to surprise the opponents with fast counter-attacks. Inter has at least six clear goal chances, all coming from either the left or the right flank of the pitch, but fortunately for us, their attackers are not precise. Podolsky hits the post with a central shot deflected by Pulzetti, and at least four times the ball danced near the goal line but no Inter player was there to push it in. Cesena too had a great chance to snatch a last-minute victory when Defrel (who is being sought by all Serie A teams) serves a great assist to "Peter Pan" Rodríguez. Unfortunately our Spanish bomber does not prove as lethal as he has accustomed us to be during the past two seasons.
Again, a great point for Cesena. We were lucky that yesterday night Cagliari was equilized on the last action by Empoli, and that Atalanta did not manage to win vs. Udinese. Unfortunately for us Chievo Verona won at the Marassi vs Genoa. This means that Cesena and Cagliari are now second and third last both with 21 points. Teams like Chievo, Sassuolo, Empoli and Hellas Verona seem now unreachable but fortunately for us Atalanta is proving quite disappointing this season and with its 25 points is the only team which Cesena seems to be able to suck down into that third last position.
Next sunday it's Cesena - Roma. Needless to say, the only chance that Cesena has to keep hope alive is to win all the remaining 6 matches home at our beautiful "Dino Manuzzi - Orogel" arena.
See you next week. Serie C Serie A noi saremo qua!!! Cesena för evigt!!!
Inter (4-3-1-2): Handanovic; D'Ambrosio, Ranocchia, Andreolli, Dodò (61' Santon); Guarin, Medel, Kuzmanovic (45' Podolski); Shaqiri (23' Kovacic); Palacio, Icardi.
A disp.: Carrizo, Berni, Felipe, Campagnaro, Brozovic, Obi, Hernanes, Puscas.
All.: Mancini.
Cesena (4-3-1-2): Leali; Perico, Capelli, Krajnc, Magnusson; Giorgi, Mudingayi (78' Cascione), De Feudis (71' Pulzetti); Carbonero; Defrel, Djuric (78' Rodriguez).
A disp.: Agliardi, Bressan, Volta, Nica, Gaiola, Moncini, Brienza, Succi.
All.: Di Carlo.
Arbitro: Gervasoni.