Inter Milan defeated Arsenal 1-0 in the Champions League on Wednesday thanks to a penalty kick from Hakan Calhanoglu, who continued to amass an outstanding penalty record.
In their first three games of the campaign, neither team had given up a goal, but a harsh handball call against Mikel Merino on the stroke of halftime ultimately caused an unexpected break in Arsenal’s defence.
After joining Inter, the deadly Calhanoglu duly reached the back of the net to increase his record to 19 out of 19 penalties scored in everything.
In the second half, Inter defended brilliantly to advance to 10 points from four games, but Arsenal dominated the goal with Kai Havertz stopped by home keeper Yann Sommer and another attempt deflected just wide.
With seven points, Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal are currently outside the top eight automatic qualifiers for the knockout stage despite having 14 goal attempts in the second half due to a lack of creativity.
Arteta was irritated because he believed Sommer had committed a foul on Merino, and his team should have been awarded a penalty as well.
Denzil Dumfries hammered a fierce drive against the crossbar to deny Inter an early goal in the first meeting between the clubs in twenty-one years.
Before the game became a cagey affair with neither team taking chances, Calhanoglu came quite near.
When Romanian referee Istvan Kovacs gestured to the spot after Merino was judged to have stopped a flick-on by Mehdi Taremi, Arsenal was lamenting their fate despite appearing comfortable.
Arsenal was unable to be saved by a VAR assessment, and it was always certain that Calhanoglu, the penalty expert, would defeat David Raya.
Because Arsenal lacked the creativity to break them down, Inter was happy to absorb pressure in the second half.
Dumfries clearing the ball off the line after a corner was the closest the visitors came to tying the score.
The sight of captain Martin Odegaard coming off the bench following a protracted injury absence was a bright spot for the travelling supporters in the San Siro, even though Arsenal has now only won two of their previous six games across all competitions.