Inter Milan earned their fourth piece of silverware in 2010 by
lifting the Italian Supercoppa with victory over Roma; Rafa
Benitez's first trophy with the Nerazzurri.
John Arne Riise put the visitors in front in the 21st minute,
but Goran Pandev levelled four minutes before the break.
Samuel Eto'o scored in the 70th and 80th minutes to give Rafa
Benitez a winning start on the Inter bench and earn the
Nerazzurri their first success of the 2010-11 season.
Inter can potentially go on to clinch six trophies in 2010 by
winning the European Super Cup against Atletico Madrid next weekend
and the FIFA Club World Cup in December, to add to the Serie A
title, the Coppa Italia and the Champions League they won last
season under Jose Mourinho.
Benitez relied upon the players he inherited from Mourinho in
his starting XI, while Roma coach Claudio Ranieri also fielded the
same team which pushed the Nerazzurri close for the
Scudetto last season.
Francesco Totti and Mirko Vucinic led the Giallorossi attack
with former Inter forward Adriano starting on the bench.
Wesley Sneijder had two decent efforts within the first 10
minutes with his second attempt going just a few feet over the
crossbar from 20 yards.
Totti sent his strike partner Vucinic through with a
perfectly-weighted pass in the 10th minute, but the Montenegro
forward shot straight at Julio Cesar with just the Inter goalkeeper
to beat.
Roma were posing the greater threat and Jeremy Menez made room
for a shot by cutting inside Walter Samuel, but he tried to find
the far corner with the outside of his boot and failed to get any
curl on the ball.
At the other end, Marco Cassetti threw himself at the feet of
Samuel Eto'o to block the Cameroon striker's shot from Maicon's
cross.
Riise then put Roma ahead thanks to yet another intelligent pass
from Giallorossi captain Totti. His precision pass allowed the
former Liverpool full-back to fire first time past Julio Cesar from
just outside the penalty area, the Brazilian goalkeeper getting his
fingertips to the ball but failing to keep it out.
Roma were good value for their lead but they threw it away when
Vucinic passed the ball back towards his goalkeeper from out wide
in the 41st minute. Pandev got to the ball ahead of Bogdan Lobont
to divert it into the far corner.
Menez and Riise tried their luck from distance as Roma started
the second half brightly, but Eto'o then took centre stage.
He was wrongly ruled offside in the 64th minute as he provided
an assist for Milito to score and the pair linked up again six
minutes later as Milito crossed for Eto'o, who stole in at the near
post to beat Cassetti and Lobont to the ball to score.
Eto'o then sealed the win for Inter in the 80th minute. He stole
possession off Rodrigo Taddei, who was trying to walk the ball out
of defence, and played a one-two with Sneijder before sliding a
shot under Lobont, who was unable to take enough of the pace off
the ball with his leg.