Soccer Football - Champions League - Inter Milan v Arsenal - San Siro, Milan, Italy - November 6, 2024 Inter Milan's Hakan Calhanoglu scores their first goal from the penalty spot REUTERS/Claudia Greco
MILAN (Reuters) -Inter Milan's Hakan Calhanoglu maintained his incredible penalty record as his spot-kick secured a gritty 1-0 victory for the Italians over Arsenal in the Champions League on Wednesday.
Neither side had conceded a goal in their opening three games in the competition but Arsenal's defence was finally breached in unfortunate fashion on the stroke of halftime after a harsh handball decision against Mikel Merino.
The lethal Calhanoglu duly found the back of the net to take his record to 19 out of 19 penalties scored in all competitions since joining Inter.
Arsenal laid siege to the Inter goal in the second half with Kai Havertz denied by home keeper Yann Sommer and having another effort deflected just wide, but Inter defended superbly to move to 10 points from four games.
Mikel Arteta's Arsenal had 14 goal attempts in the second half but lacked creativity and are now outside the top eight automatic qualifiers for the knockout phase with seven points.
Arteta was left frustrated as he felt his side also should have had a penalty for what he thought was a foul on Merino by Sommer.
"I am very proud of my players, the level of domination we had. We were very harshly done by in the sense that is obvious," he said. "If you are going to give a penalty, the other one has to be a 100% penalty because he punched him in the head."
The first meeting between the clubs for 21 years began with Inter on top and they were denied an early goal when Denzil Dumfries thumped a ferocious shot against the crossbar.
Calhanoglu went close before the game turned into a cagey affair with neither side taking risks.
Arsenal had looked comfortable but were cursing their luck when Merino was adjudged to have blocked a flick-on by Mehdi Taremi and Romanian referee Istvan Kovacs pointed to the spot.
A VAR check could not save Arsenal and there was never any doubt that penalty wizard Calhanoglu would beat David Raya.
Inter were content to soak up pressure in the second half with Arsenal lacking the invention to break them down.
The closest the visitors came to equalising was when Dumfries cleared the ball off the line following a corner.
Arsenal have now won only two of their last six games in all competitions, although the sight of captain Martin Odegaard coming off the bench after a lengthy injury absence offered a silver lining for the travelling fans in the San Siro.
(Reporting by Martyn Herman, editing by Ed Osmond and Clare Fallon)
