Inter Milan beats undermanned Manchester City 3-0 in soccer friendly

Inter Milan breezes past Manchester City, 3-0

BALTIMORE — Inter Milan opened its U.S. tour with an impressive showing against weary Manchester City, which was more than ready to head home to England.

Nsofor Victor Obinna scored in the 38th minute, and Inter pulled away to a 3-0 victory Saturday night in a friendly.

Manchester City played the final 69 minutes with only 10 men after Patrick Vieira was given a red card for a hard foul against Marco Materazzi. When they faced each other in the 2006 World Cup final, Vieira’s French teammate, Zinedine Zidane, was ejected for head-butting Italy’s Materazzi.

Inter took full advantage of the extra man, dominating play on both sides of the field.

Mario Balotelli, the 20-year-old Inter forward who may be transferring to Manchester City, didn’t dress for the Italian club.

It was the first of three games for the defending European champions on North American soil, and manager Rafael Benitez couldn’t have been happier with the effort.

“I am really pleased with the performance of the team. They played really well today,” he said. “Our idea is to improve our fitness and also give time to our young players on the pitch. We got to do both.”

Manchester City played without manager Roberto Mancini, who left Friday because of a family illness. He was replaced by assistant coach Brian Kidd.

The final game of Manchester City’s five-city preseason tour of the United States drew a crowd of 36,569 at the Baltimore Ravens’ stadium.

“There will be a few tired players going back on the plane tonight,” Kidd said.

They are, however, better for the experience.

“It’s been good. Today was the biggest crowd we played in front of in America,” goaltender Shay Given said. “It was a great place to be. The people are very welcoming.”

The club opens the Premier League season Aug. 14 against Tottenham.

Obinna gave Inter a 1-0 lead with a shot from the left side that whisked past goalkeeper Joe Hart — starting ahead of Given, the incumbent No. 1 — and into the right corner of the net.

Inter added two second-half scores against Given. Inter plays Atletico Madrid in the European SuperCup on Aug. 27 and opens its Serie A title defense at Bologna, probably on Aug. 30.

An own goal made it 2-0 in the 54th minute. Obinna collected a clear on the right side and moved into position before taking a shot that glanced off the leg of Manchester City’s Joleon Lescott and into the net.

Cristiano Biraghi completed the scoring from 30 yards out in the 74th minute. The shot hooked left past Given into the upper left corner of the net.

The first half was anything but friendly: There were several hard fouls resulting in three yellow cards and a red card.

After Goran Pandev of Inter and Vincent Kompany of Manchester City both received yellow cards in the 19th minute, players from both teams pushed and pulled each other before peace was restored.

Shortly thereafter, in the 21st minute, Vieira received the pivotal red card.

“Certainly, playing a man down was too hard too overcome,” Given said.

Kidd insisted the foul was purely accidental.

“Pat was going for the ball,” Kidd said. “It’s difficult for the referees. It’s split-second. But there was no intent there.”