Inter Milan and Atalanta victorious in the Champions league

 ROME - Wednesday in the Champions League was a good night for Italian football. Both Inter Milan and Atalanta were able to come away with three points from their matches.

 Inter Milan had the harder game, facing off against emerging English team Arsenal at the San Siro. Inter started the game with a spring in the step, marginally being stopped from going ahead in the second minute by the crossbar. Arsenal also had their own good moments, with up and coming winger Bukayo Saka doing the hard work with some fantastic runs but flopping his shooting, which the Inter Milan keeper had no trouble saving.

 The only goal came from the penalty spot, scored by Inter’s Hakan Çalhanoğlu. The penalty was conceded by Arsenal after an Inter cross was deflected onto Mikel Merino’s hand, with the midfielder making no attempt to get his hands out of the way. The penalty was gently guided down the middle of the goal by Çalhanoğlu, hitting the back of the net with Arsenal’s keeper nowhere to be seen having jumped the gun a bit early with his dramatic dive to the left.

 Arsenal fans will be bitterly disappointed at their team’s performance, now losing two games on the trot. However, Inter Milan fans will be ecstatic that their team was able to claim all three points.

 Atalanta were victorious in their game against VfB Stuttgart 2-0. Atalanta continued their good run of form, now winning eight matches in a row.

 VfB Stuttgart will feel as if they let the game slip away, missing critical chances that were not particularly challenging. A particularly bad miss was by Deniz Undav who had only the keepera to beat, but then scuffed the ball wide of the goal.

 VfB Stuttgart were then punished for their missed chances, as Atalanta’s star striker Ademola Lookman opened the scoring for the match. Lookman’s goal was a now characteristic sprint into the penalty box, tapping in a cross and leaving the goalkeeper completely defenceless. Atalanta’s second was scored by Nicolò Zaniolo, who did not miss his opportunity one-on-one with the keeper in the 81^st minute.

 So as things stand for the Italian teams in the new Champions League table format: Inter Milan move up to fifth, Atalanta go ninth, Juventus are 11^th, with AC Milan lower down in 20^th and Bologna barely off the bottom in 31^st. The next week of Champions League action will take place on Nov. 26.

tjpw