Wolves' de Bruyne has Inter Milan in trouble

Wolfsburg's Kevin De Bruyne (L) and Inter Milan's Juan Jesus vie for the ball during the UEFA Europa League first-leg round-of-16 football match in Wolfsburg, northern Germany. (AFP/RONNY HARTMANN)

PARIS: Kevin de Bruyne inspired Vfl Wolfsburg to a come-from-behind 3-1 defeat of Inter Milan on Thursday (Mar 12) to leave the three-time Europa League winners struggling to make it into the quarter-finals.

Roberto Mancini's men looked to have the upper hand over their high-flying Bundesliga hosts when Rodrigo Palacio put the Serie A visitors into a sixth minute lead. But de Bruyne set up Naldo for the German side's first-half equaliser, then with a little help from Inter's stand-in goalkeeper Juan Pablo Carrizo he scored a second-half double.

Wolves' record signing from Chelsea should have had a treble only to fire wide with Carrizo's goal at his mercy towards the end. Wolves will now justifiably fancy their prospects of securing a ticket to the last eight in the last 16 second leg at the San Siro next week.

"Disappointing" was how Inter skipper Andrea Ranocchia summed up the night, before suggesting all was by no means lost. "We started well but our focus is already on the return leg," he reflected.

"We scored a goal here and want to make sure it counts at the San Siro. We're making too many stupid mistakes, but we've still got 90 minutes to qualify. We're confident."

Andre Villas-Boas' Zenit St Petersburg also have an option on the next round judged on their 2-0 win over another Italian side, Torino, in St Petersburg.

Axel Witsel and former Italian defender Domenco Criscito saw off Torino who were reduced to 10 men after Marco Benassi's first-half red card.

"It's a pity, while we were on level terms we had a firm grip on the game," stated Torino captain Kamil Glik. "But the red card for Benassi ruined our plans. But it will be a different story in the second leg in our stadium. We still believe."

Europa League last 16 first leg results:

At St Petersburg

Zenit St Petersburg (RUS) 2 Torino (ITA) 0

At Wolfsburg

VfL Wolfsburg (GER) 3 Inter Milan (ITA) 1

At Bruges

Club Brugge (BEL) 2 Besiktas (TUR) 1

At Kiev

Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk (UKR) 1 Ajax (NED) 0

At Liverpool

Everton (ENG) 2 Dynamo Kiev (UKR) 1

At Villarreal

Villarreal (ESP) 1 Sevilla (ESP) 3

At Naples

Napoli (ITA) 3 Dinamo Moscow (RUS) 1

At Fiorentina

Fiorentina (ITA) 1 Roma (ITA) 1