Battle of Seattle as Inter Milan down nine man River Plate to advance

SEATTLE – Inter Milan coach Cristian Chivu was glad to have overcome a “tough” match, as his side advanced to the last 16 of the Club World Cup on June 25 following a stormy 2-0 victory over River Plate that sealed the Argentinian club’s exit.

Teenage striker Francesco Esposito and Alessandro Bastoni scored the goals to settle a physical contest which saw River finish with nine men.

The final whistle was marred by an ugly melee which saw players from both sides clash as they sprinted off the pitch, with missiles being thrown by River’s fans at Seattle’s Lumen Field.

“We got the job done, that’s the most important thing,” Chivu said afterwards.

“That game was very tough for us – in the first half they had a lot of aggression, a lot of intensity. But in the second half we controlled the game better and in the end won.”

Earlier, the 19-year-old Esposito bagged his first goal for Serie A giants Inter with a lovely strike in the 72nd minute to put the Italians 1-0 up.

The tall teenage striker collected a pass from Petar Sucic, elegantly lost his marker before drilling a shot into the bottom right-hand corner past River goalkeeper Franco Armani.

Bastoni then bagged Inter’s second deep into injury time to seal a win which sets up a last-16 meeting against Brazil’s Fluminense on June 30.

Mexico’s Monterrey, 4-0 winners over already-eliminated Japanese side Urawa Red Diamonds, finished as runners-up in Group E and will face Borussia Dortmund in the last 16 on July 2.

Chiva also reserved special praise for Esposito.

He said: “He was up to the task in a serious match. It wasn’t easy, either physically or in terms of nerves.

“But he, as with his teammates, played a great match.

“I look