MILAN (AP) — Iran forward Mehdi Taremi scored his first goal for Inter Milan on Tuesday as he struck a penalty past Israel and Red Star Belgrade goalkeeper Omri Glazer hours after his country launched a barrage of missiles at Israel.
Taremi, who joined from Porto in the offseason, played a crucial role in Inter’s 4-0 victory over Red Star in the Champions League by also setting up two of his team's other goals.
Shortly before kickoff at San Siro, Iran fired at least 180 missiles into Israel — the latest in a series of escalating attacks in a yearslong conflict between Israel and Iran and its Arab allies that threatens to push the Middle East closer toward a regionwide war.
The 32-year-old Taremi was not asked about the situation back in his homeland when he was interviewed by Italian television, which focused on his first goal for the Nerazzurri.
“I am glad to score tonight, to play good, thanks to my teammates. It was great,” Taremi said.
“I am so excited, it took a while for me to score, but I always tried to do my best in training, I fought for this moment and managed to get the goal tonight.”
Inter was already 1-0 up courtesy of sumptuous Hakan Çalhanoğlu free kick when Taremi stole the ball off Red Star midfielder Rade Krunic and rolled it across the area for Marko Arnautovic to tap in at the back post in the 59th minute.
Taremi set up another 12 minutes later when, despite being tripped by Uros Spajic, he managed to get up — after somersaulting on the ground — and send Lautaro Martínez through.
Lautaro, one of Inter’s usual penalty takers, more than returned the favor shortly afterward when a penalty was awarded for a foul on him by Vanja Drkusic.
Lautaro handed the ball to Taremi and embraced the Iranian. Taremi had a long wait to take his penalty amid problems with the VAR communication system, but kept his cool to drive the spotkick past Glazer.
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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
Daniella Matar, The Associated Press
