Former Chelsea striker Hernan Crespo was the man to grab the goal for the Italians. Coming just nine minutes before the break the goal was much needed by the in-form Italian side and will make their final match of the group stages that much easier.

The Serie A leaders will face Bayern Munich in the final match on December 5 looking to see which of them will top the group but both are definitely assured of a top two place.

It was always set to be a tough encounter with just one point between the sides heading into the match. Both sides were relatively slow out of the blocks, Inter particularly looking like they were missing inform striker Julio Cruz. The Argentinean had scored all three of the Italian sides CL goals so far this season.

Sporting started the better of the two sides but were forced into two substitutions with less than half an hour of the match gone due to injuries. Marco Caneira and Fernando Abel both limped off and the visitors were naturally disrupted.

On 36 minutes Crespo unleashed a volley from a Dejan Stankovic pass and his shot flew past Ricardo in the Sporting goal.

The second half was just as tough as the first with neither side looking to give anything away. Inter were happy to sit and wait while the Portuguese side had little bite at the end of their attacks.

Alecsandro and Jorge Carlos Martins both hard attempts on goal but Julio Cesar remained untroubled for the most part of the game.

itv-football