Cristian Chivu believed that Valentin Carboni's winning goal against the Urawa Reds was his righteous reward after he had submitted the work after a long -term injury.
Carboni hit the winning goal in the second half of the stop time when Inter took a 2-1 win over their Japanese opponents to move the top of group E on Saturday.
The Serie A -Giants had fallen behind with the opener of Ryoma Watanabe, the first time a Japanese party had scored against an Italian team in the history of the Club World Cup.
But the pressure of Inter finally told in the 78th minute when Lautaro Martinez brilliantly the inviting corner kick of Nicolo Barella changed beyond the understanding of Shusaku Nishikawa.
Carboni was then at hand to take all three points in front of Chivu and place the ball in the top left corner after Petar Sucic had seen his target -bound effort blocking.
The goal meant the first performance of the Argentinian since the cracking of his front cruciate ligament (ACL) while in October he was in the international duty with Argentina.
Carboni was sent on loan to Ligue 1-side Marseille for the 2024-25 season, with Chivu pleased that the midfielder devises an important goal for his team.
“Carboni played his first game after cracking his cruciate ligament,” Chivu told reporters shortly after their victory over Lumen Field.
“He had not played in eight months. He worked hard to recover. I am happy to see him happy.”
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– Inter (@inter) June 21, 2025
Inter was made to work for their first victory of their club World Cup campaign, despite the end of the game with an expected goals (XG) a total of 2.26 to Urawa's 0.5.
The Nerazzurri placed 26 shots on the four of their opponents, in which Chivu acknowledged after the game that their victory did not come easily when they looked ahead to River Plate.
“We have played a good game and a serious game, trying to score goals in all possible ways,” Chivu added. “We kept believing in it until the end. And we did it.
“I am proud because it was not easy against a solid team like Urawa. In the second half we tried with Pio access to also take advantage of the crosses.
“I could say a lot about Valentin, but also about Pio, Luis Henrique and Sucic.”
Inter Face Argentinian Giants River Plate, who plays Monterrey in their second game at the tournament on Saturday, in their last group match next week.