Marcelo Brozovic's late goal gives Inter Milan narrow win against Torino

A late goal from Marcelo Brozovic gave Inter Milan a 1-0 win at home to Torino in Serie A on Saturday but they also had goalkeeper Samir Handanovic to thank for several fine saves.

Croatia midfielder Brozovic managed to steer the ball past Torino keeper Vanja Milinkovic-Savic from inside the area in the 89th minute after a pass from Nicolo Barella.

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Inter are now in third place with 12 points from six games, two points behind leaders Napoli, who beat Spezia 1-0 on Friday.

Inter were without injured striker Romelu Lukaku and struggled to score against a solid Torino defence.

"We have to improve, tonight was not the best game," coach Simone Inzaghi told a news conference. "We had an opponent who forced us not to play very smooth, we had to get the ball to the attackers and we didn't do that very well."

The game was even in the first 20 minutes, with Torino creating several chances while Inter tried to hit them on the counter-attack.

Nikola Vlasic almost put Torino ahead in the 20th but his shot was saved by Handanovic.

Torino started the second half aggressively and fashioned several chances, with Inter's defence looking passive. Handanovic came to his side's rescue several times with a number of superb saves.

Torino's Antonio Sanabria was shown a red card in the 50th minute after catching Hakan Calhanoglu with an elbow jumping for the ball but it was downgraded to yellow after a VAR check.

Inter pushed more aggressively in the last minutes of the game. Milan Skriniar could have put them in front with a header in the 75th, but Milinkovic-Savic managed to keep it out, while Lautaro Martinez headed just wide four minutes later.

Inter are now unbeaten in their last seven games against Torino in Serie A stretching back to early 2019.

"Results and victories create self-esteem, six games have passed and we have won four of them (this season). We are growing as individuals and as a team," Inzaghi added.

Inter visit Viktoria Plzen in the Champions League group stage on Tuesday before playing at Udinese next Sunday in Serie A, while Torino host Sassuolo next Saturday.