Lukaku and Eriksen take Inter past Getafe into last eight

GELSENKIRCHEN, Germany (Reuters) - Romelu Lukaku and Christian Eriksen were on target as Inter Milan moved into the last eight of the Europa League with a 2-0 win over Getafe on Wednesday.

 

The single-match, neutral-venue tie, played at the Veltins-Arena, was rearranged after the scheduled fixtures in March were postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

Getafe, who finished eighth in La Liga, started strongly and went close to an opener when Nemanja Maksimovic’s header was superbly saved by Inter keeper Samir Handanovic.

 

Yet Inter responded with Argentine striker Lautaro Martinez twice forcing good saves out of David Soria before Lukaku opened the scoring, latching on to a long ball, holding off Xabier Etxeita and drilling into the bottom corner.

 

Getafe responded well after the break with Jaime Mata seeing a header tipped over by Handanovic before they were given a great chance to get on level terms when the VAR spotted a handball in the box by Inter defender Diego Godin.

 

Yet 38-year-old substitute Jorge Molina put his poorly-struck penalty wide and from then on Inter never looked in danger.

 

After Lukaku, who has now scored in his last eight Europa League matches, missed a golden chance from close range, Inter made sure of the win through substitute Eriksen.

 

Moments after being introduced, the former Tottenham Hotspur midfielder, made no mistake as he took full advantage of a poor attempted clearance from Djene Dakonam.