Internacional 2-1 Corinthians: 39 shots, 3 on target, 0.73 of xG left on the post

Highlights

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Three shots on target. Thirty-nine attempts. Internacional beat Corinthians 2-1 at the Beira-Rio having held the ball for just 28% of the match, and the arithmetic of this Porto Alegre night never quite added up for the visitors.

The pattern was set inside 60 seconds. Alan Patrick set up Vitinho and the finish made it 1-0 before some supporters had found their seats. Alerrandro spurned a close-range chance in the seventh minute, and from there Corinthians simply took over. Yuri Alberto saw efforts blocked, Memphis Depay was kept out on 27 minutes, Matheuzinho's drive was saved on 39, Yuri Alberto was thwarted again on 40, and the half closed 1-0 with the away side doing all the pressing and none of the damage.

The second half followed the same script until it didn't. Depay rattled the post on 59 minutes from a 0.729 chance, the biggest of the night; Kaio César was denied twice in the 70th. Then Alan Patrick, fed by substitute Bruno Henrique, buried a 0.473 chance on 77 to make it 2-0. André Luiz, on since half-time, pulled one back on 80 — assisted by Vitinho, a Corinthians substitute barely a minute off the bench — but Corinthians' night had already been defined by a post and a pile of blocked shots.

That xG line is the story in miniature: 2.52 of creation for the visitors against 1.76 for the hosts, the away side's total built on volume rather than the one swing that counted.

Alan Patrick was the difference. One assist inside a minute, one goal on 77 minutes, and a 36th-minute miss of his own — a direct hand in both goals for a side that barely touched the ball. Corinthians out-shot their hosts 22-17 and lost. Football keeps its own ledger.