Before the kick off an emotional Julio Cesar took to the pitch with his ex team-mates to say farewell to the fans in the Giuseppe Meazza stadium, thanking Massimo Moratti and Interista alike for his fantastic seven years with the Nerazzurri. All the Interisti in the 41000 strong crowd returned the gesture by giving the legendary goalkeeper a standing ovation and by chanting his name - showing the huge amount of love the fans have for the Brazilian.

The final aggregate score of Inter 4-2 Vaslui fails to really show how hard the Nerazzurri made this win look, but if you look at the second leg stats alone it becomes more clear, down to ten men after just 33 minutes and only just managing a draw in front of their home crowd, this was by no means the easy game that most people had anticipated.

The game started with Andrea Stramaccioni taking for granted that the two goals Inter brought into this match would be easy to defend and qualification for the group stage seemed a certainty, so he decided to rest several key players including Diego Milito and Wesley Sneijder ready for the Serie A clash against Roma on Sunday.

The Romanian side had arrived at Milano looking to turn around their home defeat and came to the pitch searching for goals. The first five minutes or so were very even but Vaslui looked to be the side more likely to get a chance on goal, the only thing that stopped them was Inter's high defensive line that caught the Romanian clubs attackers offside time and time again.

Inter's best chance of the first half came after just ten minutes when Antonio Cassano dropped a perfect ball into the area from a free kick which Walter Samuel got his head to, firing the header past the Vaslui keeper but only managing to hit the crossbar.

For the next fifteen minutes or so both sides were very even with the only chances being drawn from set pieces until on the half hour mark Cassano sent a lovely through ball in to the area for Phillipe Coutinho to latch onto, giving the young Brazilian the chance to take a shot across goal to the far post, unfortunately though the ball took a slight deflection and the shot went harmlessly wide.

Then disaster struck for Inter as Samuel was too slow to react to Liviu Antal receiving the ball, letting the Romanian through on goal with only the keeper Luca Castellazzi to beat, he was brought down in the box by the veteran shot stopper who earned himself a red card and gave away a vital penalty to the visitors. I don't blame Castellazzi for this as he had to make a split second decision and unfortunately this time it didn't pay off, but it once again highlights that Samuel is too old and slow to be considered a first choice defender in this new look Inter squad.

Before the penalty Stramaccioni was forced to remove Cassano to make way for Vid Belec who was coming on to his competitive debut with Inter, unsurprisingly his first moments didn't go well for him as he couldn't manage to save the spot kick. I'm not convinced that taking Cassano off was Stramaccioni's best idea as Antonio to this point had been one of Inter's more influential players.

After the sending off the Nerazzurri seemed in complete disarray and luckily for them Vaslui didn't manage to take advantage of the situation before half time. One Inter player that did seem to keep his cool during this period was Coutinho who managed to make a fantastic solo run from his own half threading in and out of Vaslui players as if they weren't there but once he passed the ball on to his team-mates near the box his Brazilian compatriot Jonathan only managed to scuff the ball well wide of the goal.

For the second half Stramaccioni brought on Fredy Guarin for Samuel and managed to calm his players down enough to play with purpose again. The fact that he substituted Samuel off speaks volumes to me that he is realising the reality of my earlier point, and to be honest for the remainder of the match Juan Jesus played fantastically in the centre of defence where the veteran Argentinean had been.

In the second half Inter looked much better and were even managing to make some good attacking runs leading to several good chances on target by the Inter players, but it took until the 76th minute to even up the score and return the two goal aggregate difference. The goal came from a stunning counter attack run by Coutinho who then set up Rodrigo Palacio to shoot past the Vaslui keeper into the far side bottom corner.

It only took Vaslui two minutes to take the lead again though, when the young Inter keeper made an error that led to Vaslui's second goal of the night. This game showed that the youngster Belec isn't quite ready be a regular in the first team squad as he made several mistakes during the match including a clearance on the 90th minute that went straight to the Vaslui attack leaving him stranded way off his line, luckily they couldn't take advantage of this gift from Belec.

With ten minutes to go Stramaccioni decided to play it safe and protect his aggregate lead by bringing on Andrea Ranocchia for Jonathan and switching to a five man defence with Javier Zanetti moving into the right back position. Speaking of the captain, he was by far the best player on the pitch in this game and as always there was no sign that he is 39 years old, with the way he was running though the Vaslui lines, using tricks and skill even Messi would be proud of he looked like a young 25 year old at the peak of his career, he truly is a phenomenon!

With less than a minute of stoppage time left to play Guarin put the game beyond doubt, after winning the ball in midfield he made a storming solo run into the box where he passed two Vaslui defenders before powering a vicious right footed shot into the back of the net. This is the Guarin I've been looking forward to seeing, a real fighter of a player who never gives up, though he must learn to keep his temper in check as throughout the game he was seen to make a few rash challenges.

With this win Inter now qualify for the group stages and although the performance in this match wasn't great it did show a grit and determination to get the result that needs to be a second nature for the players to return the club to its former glory. On the bright side we also have to remember the wealth of talent and experience Inter have on the sidelines that wasn't present in this match, so people shouldn't judge the team on this one performance and I'm confident there is much better to come.

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