Benassi's brilliance denies Inter victory

Benassi had a wonderful day in the office as Lecce denied Inter the chance to go joint third in the league.

Inter were on a seven match winning steak in Serie A before the start of this match and Lecce needed to win to keep their chances to stay in the top flight. Though Inter lost to Napoli during the week, they were expected to easily take back 3 points in the match and go joint third in the league after Udinese lost to Juventus last night.

Inter started the match with a 4-3-1-2 formation with Sneijder returning to the starting line-up after the injury, and Obi also was named in the starting line-up. Lecce started with a 3-5-2 formation. The match started off in a slow pace with neither team trying up increase the tempo of the game. Lecce had the first corner of the match in the 9th minute, but Lucio was at hand to head the resulting ball away from danger. Inter should have really been 1-0 in the next minute, when Benassi had the ball stolen by Milito, and though it was a tight angle, Milito should have scored in the open net. Then in the 18th minute, Inter had another chance, but Cambiasso stayed on the ball too long and was cut off. In the resulting counter-attack, Cesar denied Muriel who beat Samuel for pace, but could not put the ball past a sliding Cesar. Inter’s dominance continued when in the 21st minute, Sneijder tried to play a one-two with Pazzini, who doesn’t see Sneijder run free in the box, and misses a goal scoring opportunity for Inter. In the 25th minute, Sneijder plays a poor pass but recovers the ball and shoots just over the bar. Inter were missing that final pass with Lecce crowding their defensive area with 8 players whenever Inter had the ball.

But Lecce had a chance of their own in the 28th minute, when Muriel played a ball across the Inter goal, but his trickery fooled everyone – including his own teammates who werent near the 6 yard box to tap in the pass. Then came the frantic 2 minutes and Benassi’s brilliance. First, Obi is denied by the defence, and the resulting corner sees Samuel head the ball perfectly only to be denied by the outstretched hand of Benassi. In the very next minute, Pazzini gets the ball and shoots hard and low, but Benassi is again equal to the task and gets down in time to deny Inter another chance to take the lead. Within 30 seconds of the melee, Cambiasso rises but shoots a free header wide of the post. And the tense period for Lecce continued when Maicon broke free into the area but was denied again by the stubborn Lecce defence. Lecce were holding on trying not to concede, when against the run of play, they take the lead thanks to their captain Gacomazzi. Oddo played the ball into the Inter box to find Gacomazzi, who coolly turned and slotted the ball past a sliding Lucio and a stranded Cesar. That was the end of the action in the first half which clearly had Inter frustrated not being able to score after clearly dominating the possession and Lecce were overjoyed with the lead.

At the start of the second half, Ranieri substituted Sneijder and got Alvarez to slot into Sneijder’s place. The second half started with Inter again dominating possession and trying to get the equaliser. They thought they had it in the 51st minute when, again from a corner, Samuel heads the ball onto the post, and the rebounds falls for Cambiasso, who heads the ball into an empty net but is flagged offside. The replays show that the Argentine was clearly onside and Inter should have had their equalizer. Inter continued to try for the equalizer, but were growing frustrated and as a result were trying to shoot from out of the box, which hardly troubled the in-form Lecce keeper. In the 70th minute, Inter again had a goal disallowed, when Milito was flagged offside – only this time it was a correct decision. Inter finally thought they had got their equalizer when Pazzini headed the ball on target in the 90th minute, but once again, Benassi produced an incredible save to deny the Italian international.

With Inter losing this match, they drop to fifth in the table while Lecce remain in the relegation zone but 3 points behind Siena – who have a game in hand. It was a surprise result, and Lecce weer lucky to come out with a win here, and it was all thanks to Benassi who will be the toast of Lecce tonight.