Inter and Qarabag battled to a 0-0 draw at the Tofiq Bahramov Stadium on Thursday night in the Europa League.
An inexperienced Nerazzuri side almost lost their unbeaten record in Group F but Richard Almeida’s deflected strike deep into injury-time was cruelly disallowed which, along with Dnipro’s win over Saint-Etienne, denied the Azerbaijani champions from joining the Italians in the knock out stages.
None of the starting 11 from the weekend’s defeat to Udinese made the trip and a youthful Inter looked nervous in the boisterous atmosphere from the near sell-out crowd in Baku.
Qarabag responded to force a corner within three minutes and hard work on the training ground almost paid off with the game’s opener.
Gara Qarayev drove a low cross to the edge of the box and, after two teammates dummied the ball, captain Rashad Sadygov failed to make the most of the opportunity with his strike deflected wide.
Inter managed to muster a response soon after when Dani Osvaldo cut between two defenders and cut back to Slovenian midfielder Rene Krhin, but the 24-year-old dragged it wide beyond Ibrahim Sehic’s right hand post.
Qarabag were cute in possession but early balls forward from midfield caused Inter all kinds of problems early on.
It almost paid dividends when Muarem Muarem released Namik Alasgarov in the inside right channel, but the 19-year-old shot wide with Leroy George screaming for a centre after a lung bursting run from deep.
After a challenging quarter of an hour, Inter began to settle but just before the break George outmuscled Isaac Donkor but the 27-year-old was caught in two minds, giving Juan Pablo Carrizo the chance to save at the attackers feet.
Inter may have won the competition three times in the past but it was the side known as the ‘Barcelona of The Caucasus’ who continued to impress into the second half but Alasgarov was unable to reach Muarem cross across the six yard box.
The Nerazzuri began to force some pressure on their hosts with 20-year-old Ibrahima Mbaye heading wide from a couple of set pieces while Osvaldo had a snap shot tipped wide with just ten minutes remaining.
This trip would have been a steep learning curve for an Inter side with a strong Primavera presence and they should have lost the match.
Donkor’s poor clearance fell to Richard and the Brazilian’s subsequent strike deflected off the young Inter defender and into the net, only for the officials to decide George was off side in the build up to the fury of the team and their supporters.
Inter took the point as they finished the group unbeaten and top of the pile, while Qarabag missed out on becoming the first Azerbaijani side to qualify for the knock out stages as Dnipro’s win saw the Ukrainian’s through.
