LOS ANGELES, USA, Jun 26 – Inter Milan are through to the last 16 of the Club World Cup with victory over River Plate, who ended their final Group E match with nine players and exit the tournament.
In what proved a turning point, Argentine side River Plate had Lucas Martinez Quarta sent off after 66 minutes for denying midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan a goalscoring opportunity.
Shortly afterwards, 19-year-old Francesco Esposito took a touch before lashing in his first goal for the club to give the Italian side the lead.
Alessandro Bastoni added a second for Inter with a left-foot shot five minutes into added time before River Plate’s Gonzalo Montiel was also dismissed after picking up a second yellow card as the match ended with a series of melees.
Inter Milan, who were beaten by Paris St-Germain in the Champions League final, will play Brazilian club Fluminense in the last 16 on Monday at 20:00 BST.
“We have the job done,” said Inter boss Cristian Chivu. “We qualify for the further stage of this competition. We are pleased with that.
“The game was very tough for us in the first half, River had a lot of aggression, a lot of intensity. In the second half, we controlled the game a little bit better and after the red card it was much easier for us.”
Monterrey beat Urawa Red Diamonds 4-0 to progress to the knockout stage by finishing second in Group E on five points – one point ahead of River Plate.
The Mexican side will face German club Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday, 2 July at 02:00 BST in the knockout stage.
