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Inter Milan preserved their flawless Champions League campaign with a hard-fought 2-1 victory over Kairat Almaty at the San Siro on Wednesday night.
Carlos Augusto’s fierce low finish midway through the second half prevented an upset and secured a fourth consecutive win in the league phase.
The Italian side are now firmly positioned to reach the last 16, sitting third with 12 points, level alongside Bayern Munich and Arsenal.
With last season’s competition showing that 16 points were enough to claim an automatic top-eight place, four points from their final four matches could see Inter safely through.
That prospect will be welcome given the challenges ahead, including daunting home encounters with Arsenal and Liverpool in the run-in.
Before that, they travel to Atletico Madrid later this month, eager to improve on a display that, while effective, lacked the composure expected at this level.
“There are no easy matches in the Champions League,” Carlos Augusto told Amazon Prime Video. “We didn’t play to our usual standards, but we still managed to get the win. We know our quality, but we must show it every time we step onto the pitch.”
Inter had gone ahead late in the first half through captain Lautaro Martínez, but the visitors hit back shortly after the break when Ofri Arad found space to nod in an equaliser.
Even after Augusto restored the advantage with his first goal of the season, the Kazakh champions continued to threaten what would have been the greatest result in their history.
Kairat have just a single point in their debut campaign but remain within three points of the play-off spots. Their remaining fixtures—against Copenhagen, Olympiakos, and Club Brugge before a final-day trip to Arsenal—keep their hopes alive.
Inter controlled possession from the outset and might have built a comfortable lead earlier. Martínez was first denied by a smart double stop from Temirlan Anarbekov, then fired over from a promising position following Piotr Zieliński’s setup.
The hosts thought they had a penalty when Yann Bisseck tumbled under a challenge from Arad, but referee Luís Godinho overturned his original decision after reviewing the incident on the monitor.
Frustration grew as Inter struggled to break down Kairat’s organised defence, and they were nearly stunned just before the interval when Dastan Satpayev’s deflected strike clipped the top of the bar.
Seconds later, Martínez struck at the second attempt to notch his 160th Inter goal and relieve the tension.
However, complacency crept in at the start of the second half, allowing Arad to power in a free header from a corner — the first goal Inter have conceded in Europe this season.
Anarbekov continued to excel, pulling off an impressive save to deny Pio Esposito, but could not stop Augusto’s drilled finish that finally settled the contest.
