Inter Milan reached the last four of the Champions League for
the first time since 2003 as they eased to a 2-0 aggregate victory
in Moscow.
Dutch midfielder Wesley Sneijder grabbed the only goal of the
game in the sixth minute as his low free-kick found its way through
the CSKA wall and beyond goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev.
Things got worse for the hosts when they had substitute Chidi
Odiah sent off early in the second half and Inter were comfortably
able to repel any pressure from their hosts and coast in the last
four.
Overhauling their first-leg deficit always looked like being a
tough task for the home side, given the way they were completely
outplayed at the San Siro last week and the absence of key
midfielder Yevgeny Aldonin and Milos Krasic through suspension.
Wall breaker: Sneijder fires Inter ahead in Moscow
after six minutes
But they made a bright start on the plastic pitch at Luzhniki
Stadium and had an early effort on goal from Japan midfielder
Keisuke Honda, who dragged a long-range effort wide.
But Inter landed an early body blow as they opened the scoring.
Midfielder Sneijder drilled in a low free-kick that flew under the
leaping wall and fooled keeper Akinfeev to end up in the back of
the net.
Jump leads: Sneijder is congratulated by Goran
Pandev
That goal meant the hosts needed to score three goals to have
any chance of going through and Inter went close to getting their
second goal of the night as Goran Pandev had a sight of goal, but
Akinfeev comfortably held his shot.
Conceding the goal prompted an early response from CSKA manager
Leonid Slutsky as he hauled off defender Vasili Berezutsky after
just 13 minutes to replace him with Odiah.
Honda then fired wide with two optimistic free-kick efforts from
distance, but the hosts did go close to grabbing a goal back when
Tomas Necid fired agonisingly wide after controlling Odiah's pass
in the 24th minute.
The hosts then carved out another chance in the 34th minute as
they broke quickly through Mark Gonzalez, but Alan Dzagoev made a
mess of the finish, scuffing the ball infield as he drove into the
box.
And that miss was almost instantly punished as Sneijder's
excellent lofted ball played Diego Milito in, but the Argentinian
forward could only hit his shot at Akinfeev.
Odiah then saw Julio Cesar tip his shot round the post at the
other end, but the Italian champions looked comfortable soaking up
any CSKA pressure.
And things got even worse for the Russian side when Odiah was
dismissed just three minutes into the second half as his rash lunge
for a loose ball saw him bring down Samuel Eto'o to earn himself a
second yellow card.
High flyer: Samuel Eto'o leaps the challenge of
Chidi Odiah
But they continued to push forward in search of a goal and
midfielder Gonzalez had two chances in the space of a minute.
The Chile international firstly smashed a half-volley that Julio
Cesar did well to hang on to, before dragging another effort wide
from the edge of the box.
Special delivery: Jose Mourinho steered Inter into
the last four
With 20 minutes to go Jose Mourinho's side were dominating
possession, sweeping the ball around at will, and Sneijder and
Dejan Stankovic both forced Akinfeev into action with powerful
efforts, and the keeper did superbly to keep out Milito's effort
with the Argentina international through on goal.
The game rather petered out from that point, although Eto'o just
failed to add a second as he shot over the bar in the final
minutes.
