Fourteen days before Champions League final, Inter secures CL soccer

Romelu Lukaku gave Inter a lightning start by scoring within a minute.

NOS Football–yesterday, 23:01

These are great times for the fans of Internazionale. Eleven days ago, it beat city rival AC Milan and Inter reached the final of the Champions League for the first time since 2010, where Manchester City will be the opponent on June 10.

Last week, the team of Denzel Dumfries and Stefan de Vrij also beat Fiorentina in the final of the Coppa Italia. And today the team secured a spot among the first four by beating last rival Atalanta Bergamo 3-2.

AS Roma can forget about qualifying for the Champions League via their own league after a 2-1 defeat at Fiorentina, but still has a backdoor to the million-dollar ball via the Europa League.

Lightning start Inter

Inter – as usual in recent weeks with Dumfries but without De Vrij – had a lightning start against Atalanta, where Teun Koopmeiners and Marten de Roon started the match.

Within the minute, Berat Djimsiti allowed himself to be outsmarted by Romelu Lukaku, who cleverly rebounded, turned away and then had free rein toward goalkeeper Marco Sportiello. The Belgian striker kept his cool and scored his tenth goal of the season.

Two minutes later it was also 2-0, after Nicolò Barella suddenly took a rebound on the slipper and rammed the ball into the roof of the goal.

Nicolò Barella celebrates Inter’s early 2-0 against Atalanta Bergamo.

After that, Inter took a bit of a breather. They could, because Atalanta could hardly make a fist. Still, Italy’s number five got to 2-1 when Mario Pasalic poked in from the rebound.

After halftime, the entertainment value dropped further. Inter waited quietly and were rewarded 15 minutes before time with Lautaro Martínez’s 3-1. The Argentine was put at his beck and call by the excellent playing Croatian Marcelo Brozovic, who will be Oranje’s opponent in the Nations League semifinals on June 14.

In the closing stages, De Vrij was also allowed to fill in briefly. Unintentionally he played a role in Luis Muriel’s 3-2: the Colombian first shot a free kick into the wall against De Vrij and Edin Dzeko, and then filled the bouncing ball beautifully into the cross.

Milan and Juve still in the race for fourth ticket

After champions Napoli and Lazio, Inter thus secured their third Champions League ticket. The fourth ticket is between AC Milan and Juventus, who meet Sunday in Turin.

Atalanta can put away its Champions League ambitions for a season, because based on mutual result, it can no longer overtake Milan. And AS Roma also knows it won’t succeed through the league. José Mourinho’s team lost 2-1 to number nine Fiorentina.

Stephan El Shaarawy brought Roma – with base power Georginio Wijnaldum – into the lead after just 11 minutes, and that margin was then defended with verve. In the closing stages, home club Fiorentina completely turned the game around. In the 85th minute Luka Jovic equalized and three minutes later Jonathan Ikoné even made it 2-1.

Georginio Wijnaldum went down with AS Roma against Fiorentina in the closing stages, although he had been substituted by then.

Still, Mourinho’s Roma need not put away their ambitions just yet. In four days, the team will play the Europa League final against Sevilla. A ticket to the Champions League also awaits the winner.

Fiorentina can also start preparing for their first European final since 1990. On June 7, the Tuscans will meet West Ham United in the Conference League final.