Thuram grabs double as Inter ease past hosts Ajax

AMSTERDAM :Marcus Thuram powered home two headed goals as Inter Milan banished the demons of last season’s Champions League final and won their opening game of the new group campaign 2-0 away at Ajax Amsterdam on Wednesday.

Inter were hammered 5-0 by Paris St Germain in May’s final in Munich and came into Wednesday’s clash at the Johan Cruyff Arena after successive defeats in Serie A but proved too strong for their Dutch hosts with the French international taking centre stage.

Thuram stole in at the near post, attacking Hakan Calhanoglu’s corner and getting ahead of the Ajax defenders to turn in a powerful header three minutes before half-time to open the scoring.

His second goal came two minutes into the second half from another Calhanoglu corner, but this time he was more central and climbed above the home defence to score easily.

(Writing by Mark Gleeson in Cape Town; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)