Iran forward Mehdi Taremi scored his first goal for Inter Milan on Tuesday, converting a penalty against Israel and Red Star Belgrade goalkeeper Omri Glazer, just hours after his country launched missiles at Israel.
Taremi, who moved from Porto during the offseason, played a key role in Inter’s 4-0 win over Red Star in the Champions League by also assisting two other goals for his team.
Before the match at San Siro, Iran fired at least 180 missiles into Israel, marking the latest escalation in a long-standing conflict between Israel and Iran along with its Arab allies, raising fears of a wider war in the Middle East.
During his interview with Italian television, the 32-year-old Taremi was not questioned about the situation in Iran and instead 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 leading 1-0 from a fantastic free kick by Hakan Çalhanoğlu when Taremi intercepted the ball from Red Star midfielder Rade Krunic and passed it to Marko Arnautovic, who scored at the back post in the 59th minute.
Taremi assisted another goal 12 minutes later; even after being tripped by Uros Spajic, he got back up—having somersaulted on the ground—and sent Lautaro Martínez through.
Lautaro, one of Inter’s main penalty takers, later returned the favor when he was fouled by Vanja Drkusic, leading to a penalty for the team.
