The noise up in the San Siro was echoing all around us, a loud song for Arne Slot that felt defiant. I saw Szoboszlai score the penalty almost at the end, making it 1-0 for us against Inter. They hadn’t lost here in Europe for like two years, so that was big. We did it without Mo Salah, who was in England after some trouble, and the guy playing where he usually does got the goal.
It was a real tough game, but everyone fought so hard. After the weird week, people wondered if we was still a team. The manager left Salah out to keep things strong, and he needed us to show something here. And we really did.
Arne Slot told us after, his voice all full of feeling, “You lads were amazing tonight, just amazing. This was about showing we’re together. This result, in this stadium, it means so much.”
Not many chances happened in the game. It was decided late because of a video review. The referee looked at the screen for a long time because Bastoni pulled on Wirtz’s shirt. He gave the penalty. Szoboszlai took it, and he smashed the ball way up into the corner. Sommer didn’t even move.
Inter’s long unbeaten run here just ended. All our players ran together and hugged, the feeling was so strong.
For most of the night, we were so smart and stopped Inter from playing good. They been in finals lately, but we confused them with how we moved in the middle. Our goalkeeper wasn’t too busy, but Sommer had stops to make in the first half from Jones and Ekitiké.
Virgil van Dijk said it simple: “We had to be tight and stick together. They are a great team but we didn’t let them play. This is a big step for us.”
We thought we scored earlier when Konaté headed it in, but they said it was handball after checking. Inter tried harder later, and Alisson had to make one good stop from Martínez. But mostly, it was real tight until everything happened at the end.
Winning like this means a lot because of everything. With Salah’s interview and him not coming, the manager had to be strong. We also had other guys missing, so the bench looked a bit empty.
But we all gave everything. Our new strikers, Isak and Ekitiké, they worked so hard. Then Bradley came on and made things happen—he was in the mix for the penalty, even.
Szoboszlai talked about his penalty: “I just needed to be brave in that moment. The team believed in me. This is for the fans who came here, for the boss, for everyone.”
And our fans, they were singing for Slot all night. You didn’t hear Salah’s name once. The first thing you heard in the whole stadium was our end singing for the coach.
Inter had bad luck with injuries, their important players like Calhanoglu and Acerbi had to go off early. Their captain, Martínez, got a yellow card fast, and you could see they were frustrated. They played a bit better later but couldn’t get past Van Dijk and everyone.
This win puts us top of the group. It’s a big statement when we needed it. People talked about problems inside, but tonight we just played. The thing with Salah isn’t finished, but here in San Siro, we showed we can win without our biggest star. And the manager, he still has everyone with him—the players and the fans singing his name. We was all together.
