Hakan Calhanoglu knew his perfect penalty record would not last forever, but hoped it would not be broken in ‘such an important game’ as Inter’s Scudetto showdown with Napoli.
It was a balanced encounter at San Siro, as Scott McTominay had given the visitors the lead on a corner kick routine, before Calhanoglu’s scorcher bent back Alex Meret’s glove.
Calhanoglu also had the opportunity to win it for Inter, but unusually for him drilled a penalty onto the base of the upright, while Federico Dimarco also clipped the frame of the goal and Giovanni Simeone ballooned over with the last kick of the game.
Calhanoglu had ideal Inter record
“I think we dominated the match and deserved more, we were just a bit unlucky. I am sorry that today I missed my first penalty for Inter, I knew it had to happen sooner or later, but not in such an important game,” Calhanoglu told DAZN after the 1-1 draw.
“I need to get right back on my feet, because it’s a long season ahead of us and my statistics are still pretty good.”
That is an understatement, as it was the first time in 18 attempts that he failed to convert a penalty in the Nerazzurri jersey.
“It was an intense match with a lot of duels, we tried to find our strikers, but the Napoli defenders worked well. In the second half we had more width with the wing-backs, but were unable to score another goal.”
The Scudetto race could not be tighter, because Napoli are the leaders only one point clear of a group including Inter, Atalanta, Lazio and Fiorentina, followed by Juventus one point behind them.
“Many teams reinforced this summer, there are a lot of new players, whereas we only changed two or three. However, there’s a long way to go yet, we are trying to give our best and it is not easy when playing every two or three days.
“Playing Wednesday against a very strong opponent like Arsenal and then immediately having this test was tough.”