Key events
The match report is in, and here it is. Congratulations to Fluminense, commiserations to Inter, and thanks to you, dear reader, for joining us on the MBM.
An extremely downcast Stefan de Vrij has a chat with DAZN as well. “We wanted to win … we didn’t start well … we wanted to create chances … play with a high rhythm … it was difficult to find spaces … they closed space well … I missed a chance … we lost the game … for now we only feel disappointment.”
The new Inter boss Cristian Chivu talks to DAZN. “We didn’t give up … we tried until the end … some changes to the formation … we tried to do our best … it wasn’t the day for us … they were well organised with a low block … it was hard for us to find solutions … in the second half we switched it a bit more … more crosses … until the end we tried.”
Flu captain Thiago Silva speaks to DAZN. “I am very proud with my team-mates … it is hard to play against Inter … they played the Champions League final … it’s not easy to play … too hot today to play football … the timing is no good … but Fluminense is a big team … we played very well … to win 2-0 against Inter is not easy … ten days ago I had a hamstring so it was not easy to play today but I am very proud of our medical team.”
This means a lot to the Fluminense squad. All of the players and the coaching staff place their club flag on the centre spot, linking arms to surround it. Then they say a prayer, before the giant circle of friends begins to turn in a joyous dance. Wonderful scenes.
That’s a throughly deserved win for the Brazilian side. Their goals bookended the game, and the big bit in the middle was nearly all theirs as well. Jhon Arias in particular was excellent. Inter only turned up for the last 15 minutes or so, and admittedly had no luck during that period, a couple of efforts pinging off the Fluminense woodwork. But over the whole piece, Flu were the better side, coming close with a couple of other chances of their own, and having a goal disallowed for being narrowly offside. They were quicker to the ball from the get-go against a subdued Inter, who can now at least draw a line under their painful 2024-25 season. Flu meanwhile advance to the quarters, where they’ll meet the winners of tonight’s game between Manchester City and Al-Hilal.
FULL TIME: Internazionale 0-2 Fluminense
Fluminense are in the quarter-finals of the Club World Cup! A fully deserved victory. Inter come up short yet again.
90 min +6: Adding insult to injury, Dimarco’s curling shot towards the top-left corner pings off junction of post and bar and away. It’s not their day. Their month. Their year. Flu by contrast in wonderland!
90 min +5: In fairness, Inter will be glad to see the back of the 2024-25 season. The end of it has been an absolute nightmare for them. Coppa Italia, Serie A, Champions League and now this, all gone in the space of a couple of months.
GOAL! Inter 0-2 Fluminense (Hercules 90+3)
Flu have been soaking up the pressure … but now there’s a release of the stuff as they counter and win a throw. It comes in from the right. Hercules wanders across the face of the box, right to left, before swivelling and threading a shot into the bottom-right corner! Sommer at full stretch, but his fingers won’t reach. What a finish!
90 min +2: Flu are living on their nerves. Martinez bursts into space down the left channel before dragging a weak shot across the face of goal and out for a goal kick. Then the flag pops up for offside anyway.
90 min +1: Santos labours over a clearance and clumsily lets the ball roll out for a corner. It’s nearly a costly mistake, because from the set piece, the ball is eventually cut back from the right to Augusto, in a pocket of space on the edge of the Flu box. He leans back and flays spectacularly over the bar.
90 min: There will be seven additional minutes.
89 min: Carboni drops a shoulder to diddle his way past two defenders on the right … only to clumsily shin the ball out for a goal kick. The painful denouement to Inter’s season in microcosm.
88 min: Arias hopes to parlay the free kick into a corner, to waste more time, but the ball flies out of play unaided by Inter, who get it back. The Italians go upfield through Henrique, but his long cross from the left sails out for a goal kick. Flu don’t rush to take it.
87 min: Arias holds the ball up by Inter’s corner flag on the left. He’s clearly running on fumes, but grafts hard anyway. And he draws a clumsy foul from Carboni. The clock ticks on.
85 min: Santos is booked for barging into the back of Augusto. There’s suddenly an edge of desperation to Fluminense’s play. So close, but still so far.
84 min: Big chance for Flu! Arias should release Lima into the box down the inside-left channel. But the pass is weak and behind Lima, who is forced to check back, turn, and attempt an ambitious curler from the edge of the D. Over the bar it goes.
83 min: Inter are beginning to look dangerous for the first time this afternoon. And how! Martinez crosses low from the right. Esposito sweeps towards the bottom right. Fabio kicks clear. What a save! Then Inter come again, and Martinez batters a shot off the base of the right-hand post! The ball pings across the face of goal and away from danger. Flu hanging on here.
81 min: Bernal makes way for Thiago Santos. A defender for a midfielder. Flu want to keep hold of what they’ve got.
80 min: Barella curls in a cross from the left. The ball drops to Martinez, who swivels and shoots from 12 yards. But it’s a scuffer, and easily claimed by Fabio before it can creep into the bottom right.
78 min: Everyone suitably refreshed, the game restarts.
76 min: … and with that, it’s time for the second-half Cooling Break. “Are you allowed to show a Mountain Dew advert (a Pepsi product) during a tournament sponsored by Coke?” wonders Joe Pearson. Hey, we’re in Pepsi’s home state here today. We’ve surely got free rein.
75 min: Freytes brings down Carboni, 30 yards out, just to the right of centre. Dimarco curls the free kick inches wide of the top-right corner. Not sure Fabio had that covered. As close as Inter have come.
73 min: The game almost grinds to a halt, so slow is Inter’s passing. They’re not panicking, to be fair, but this is taking playing it cool to extremes. But suddenly they pick up the pace a little, Esposito and Carboni making a nuisance of themselves in the middle of a penalty-box stramash. Still no shot on target, though, and Flu eventually hack clear.
71 min: Dimarco and Esposito combine down the inside-left channel, but neither can get a shot away. The ball ricochets out for a goal kick, at which point Inter replace Bastoni with Carlos Augusto.
69 min: The free kick’s hit long, and the ball comes back in from the right. Martinez heads down at the left-hand post for De Vrij, who shanks wide from a couple of yards. Inter should be level. Had that been De Vrij to Martinez, instead of the other way round, they probably would be.
68 min: Barella chases a long ball. He hooks it back as it drops, knocking it onto Silva’s arm. He claims for a penalty, but there’s no way that’ll be given, Silva’s arm by his side, the players standing next to each other. Play goes on, and Martinez is brought down by Ignacio just to the left of the box. And from that free kick …
67 min: Flu swap out their scorer Cano for Everaldo, while Inter send on Sebastiano Esposito for the extremely underwhelming Thuram.
65 min: Flu are beginning to see more of the ball. Inter are doing nowt with it themselves.
63 min: Arias takes the corner himself. He finds Bernal, six yards out. Bernal heads over. Then soon after the restart, Cano attempts to catch out Sommer with a speculative shot from 40 yards. It flies wide, but Flu are looking for a second goal here, and getting closer and closer.
62 min: Henrique tries to force a cross in from the right, but there are too many white shirts in the way. The ball pinballs out to Arias, who wins a cheap free kick to take the heat off his defence. Then Flu move upfield, Arias popping up again, this time to send a screaming curler towards the top right. Sommer is forced to tip around the post.
60 min: Martinelli goes down, clutching his hamstring. He’ll not be able to continue. He’s offered the stretcher, but wants to limp off by himself. He’s replaced by Lima, while Nonato makes way for Hercules.
59 min: Rene makes ground down the left and swings a low cross through the Inter box. The unmarked Cano isn’t far away from meeting it on the penalty spot, but fails to connect.
57 min: Arias tries to spin Bastoni down the right, and is tugged back cynically. The Inter defender is testing the referee’s patience, having already been booked. Just a free kick, though. Arias loops it long, and Cano, just to the left of the box, returns the ball screeching inches wide of the right-hand post. But for an inch here, and another inch there, Flu could be three up.
55 min: Inter try to press Flu back, but Nonato breaks out with a dainty run along the left touchline. He’s eventually forced to turn tail, but that’s moved the action up the pitch, and Inter away from the Flu goal. The Brazilians looking pretty comfortable right now.
53 min: … but nevertheless, Inter make a triple change. Dumfries, Asllani and Mkhitaryan make way for Henrique, Sucic and Carboni.
52 min: … so having said that, Martinez starts buzzing around and wins the ball on the edge of the Flu box. He feeds Dumfries down the right channel, but the wing-back slips while attempting to shoot and the ball clanks out for a goal kick. Better from Inter, though.
51 min: The game is stop-start, slow, and bitty. Inter showing next to no urgency. Fluminense will be delighted.
49 min: Inter haven’t exactly come out for the second half looking particularly re-energised. A lot of slack passes at walking pace.
47 min: Bastoni throws long from the left. Silva heads it clear. De Vrij picks up the loose ball and has a dig from an ambitious distance. It’s no good at all. Miles wide left. A bit early for hail marys?
Flu get the second half started. No changes.
Half-time entertainment. Courtesy of the greatest Carolina Panther of them all, Sir Purr.
HALF TIME: Inter 0-1 Fluminense
A scoreline that doesn’t flatter Flu at all. Inter need a rethink; without one, they’ll be going home.
45 min +6: We don’t like to see that sort of thing. That was good fun. Nothing comes of the long throw that’s eventually dispatched, Mkhitaryan’s huffing and puffing all for nought.
45 min +5: The kerfuffle started because Mkhitaryan, irked at Renato Gaúcho’s cheek, barged into the Flu boss with his chest puffed out. Gaúcho’s players rallied to his cause. Eventually it all calmed down, and Gaúcho was booked.
45 min +3: Fluminense wheel out a short-corner routine. It’s not very good, and Inter have the chance to counter. The ball’s blootered long. Fabio races out of his goal and knocks it out for a throw. Mkhitaryan tries to retrieve the ball to restart quickly, only for Flu manager Renato Gaúcho to flick it away! Cue bench-emptying brouhaha.
45 min +1: The first of seven additional first-half minutes. Saturday night’s game here between Chelsea and Benfica took four hours and 39 minutes. Say what you like about the Club World Cup, but you get good bang for your buck at the Bank of America Stadium, in terms of quantity if not necessarily quality.
45 min: Dimarco stands on Ignacio’s outstretched leg. It looked accidental, and yet you’ve seen players sent off for less. No punishment this time.
44 min: Arias in an absurd amount of space down the right. He’s got options in the middle, but decides to go for it himself, and wangs a woeful shot into the crowd. He has the good grace to look irritated with himself.
42 min: I say “clearly offside” but replays show there wasn’t much in it. Inter were inches away from being in all sorts. They need to get their gamefaces on, and quick.
40 min: … but Inter only half clear it. Some head tennis in the box. Silva knocks the ball to Rene, on the right-hand edge of the six-yard box. Cano heads across to Ignacio, who eyebrows home from a couple of yards. A celebratory roar, but it soon subsides, because Ignacio was clearly offside. No goal.
