Arnautović rescues Inter with a late winner

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MILAN, Feb 21, (AP): Marko Arnautović came off the bench to help Inter Milan to a 1-0 win over Atlético Madrid in the first leg of the Champions League round of 16.
Arnautović replaced the injured Marcus Thuram at halftime and redeemed himself after missing a couple of golden chances by scoring the winning goal 11 minutes from time.
“I’m sorry for Marcus, I never want a player to get injured,” Arnautović told Italian broadcaster Mediaset. “These are my opportunities, I come on to make the difference … it’s not an easy period for me but the third chance went in.”

Initial reports were that Thuram injured a muscle in his right thigh and Inter will be hoping to have the France forward back for the second leg in Madrid on March 13.
“The hope is to lose him (Thuram) for little time,” Inter coach Simone Inzaghi said, after praising Arnautović.

“He will be very precious to us as he has been so far … We were obviously disappointed with the chances he missed but forwards should be worried when they don’t have chances. I was a forward, there were periods when I didn’t have chances and I was much more worried than when I had them and didn’t manage to finish them off.”
Inter stretched its perfect record this year to nine wins, while it was a third loss in four matches for Atlético.

The Spanish team didn’t have a single shot on target at San Siro but will be hoping they can take lessons learned into the return at the Wanda Metropolitano stadium.
“I am optimistic obviously. We still have the opportunity to fight,” Atletico coach Diego Simeone said. “We know what we are going to face, we know how they play we just played them and I hope that we will be able to take our chance.”

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