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The winning goal was ugly as they come but the result was a thing of beauty as Southampton pulled off one of the greatest victories in their history by defeating Inter Milan.
Southampton had not even played Italian opposition until they met Inter in the pair’s first Europa League tie a few weeks ago, not least ones who won the Champions League only six years ago.
Inter, without a manager after sacking Frank De Boer, are a side in turmoil but they still had the finances to spend more than £100million in the transfer market during the summer, so take nothing away from Southampton’s result.
The St Mary’s supporters were treated to a proper European night; opposition with a glittering reputation, referee controversy going for and against them, a mass confrontation inside Inter’s penalty box as tempers sparked into the crisp air, a missed penalty and finally a victory that will go down in their history books.
After dominating against these opponents over in Milan and coming away with nothing, it looked like they would endure another frustrating night when Mauro Icardi put Inter ahead in the first half.
But Virgil van Dijk equalised after the break and an own goal in the 69th minute eventually sealed it.
Dusan Tadic crossed from the left, Danilo D’Ambrosio toed the ball on, it missed everyone apart from Yuto Nagatomo who was rooted to the spot as, under no pressure, the ball hit his left knee and bounced in.
Not that anyone on this pleasant stretch of the south coast will care one jot how the match-clinching goal came.
In Southampton’s correlating fixture back in 2010 — six months after Inter lifted the Champions League trophy and won the treble under Jose Mourinho — they were seeing off Dagenham and Redbridge in League One.
A teenage Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain scored twice for them on the way to earning a move to Arsenal. Jose Fonte also scored that evening and he is still here, although he had to watch on as his team-mates came from behind to send Southampton on the way toward reaching the Europa League knockout stage.
Inter sprung a surprise at the San Siro, scoring with their only shot on target of the match, and it was with their first shot on target that they took the lead again on 33 minutes.
Antonio Candreva got to the byline on the right of Southampton’s goal, clipped the ball across with the outside of his right boot and Ivan Perisic mis-kicked at the back post. Cuco Martina failed to clear and Perisic squeezed the ball back for Icardi to finish finely on the turn.
It felt harsh on Southampton, as did the result in Milan, but they were paying the price for Claude Puel persisting with his strict rotation policy.
The Frenchman made five changes from the defeat by Chelsea on Sunday despite the significance the result would bear on either side’s chances of progression.
Only three points separated Inter, at the bottom, and Sparta Prague, at the top, going into the tie.
Puel’s side dictated possession, but the play was disjointed. Tadic blocked Oriol Romeu’s shot on the edge of Inter’s penalty area. Defender Van Dijk smashed a clearance into midfielder James Ward-Prowse’s back.
Jay Rodriguez, one of the changes, is still recovering from a series of long-term injuries and should have scored after only 46 seconds when Tadic dug out a cross and the striker glanced his header narrowly wide. Nathan Redmond cut inside from the left and went for the far corner but missed it.
Inter punished their misses, but Southampton had the chance to make the score reflect their superiority when they won a penalty moments before half-time.
The game erupted as referee Pawel Gil deemed Perisic to have handled in the box when Pierre Hojbjerg bobbled the ball up into the air.
Inter’s players surrounded the referee. Southampton full back Sam McQueen jogged into the penalty area and Candreva threw out an arm and caught him in the side of the head.
Players from both sides piled in. Gil eventually gave a yellow card. After all the anger had subsided, Tadic tamely struck the penalty to the right of goal and Samir Handanovic dived to save.
Inter’s goalkeeper was the best player on the pitch in the two side’s last match and he was proving peerless once again.
Five minutes into the second half and he was practically showing off. He dived to his right, flinging his right arm into the air and reaching a hand to Ward-Prowse’s top-corner bound strike. He sprung up to block again, too, when Rodriguez tried to head in the rebound.
But after 64 minutes of this game — and 90 plus stoppages of the other — Inter’s goalkeeper was beaten.
Van Dijk thundered a header from a corner that Handanovic tipped over, but from the next delivery the centre-back finally had them level.
The ball initially dropped to Oriol Romeu, who flicked it looping on to the cross bar. Handanovic was on the floor and Van Dijk was there to tap in the rebound.
Nagatomo did the rest for them. The rest is history.
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