Wesley Sneijder scored the only goal of the game as Inter Milan cruised into the semi-finals of the Champions League with a comfortable 1-0 victory over ten-man CSKA Moscow on Tuesday evening.
Leading 1-0 from the first leg in Milan, Jose Mourinho's men all but ended their hosts hopes of turning the tie around when Sneijder struck with a free-kick after just six minutes of play in the Russian capital.
CSKA enjoyed a great deal of possession for the remainder of the half but without ever looking like scoring and their already difficult task became virtually impossible when Chidi Odiah picked up his second booking of the game four minutes into the second half.
CSKA had looked positively toothless with their full complement so the had little hope of scoring the three goals they required to win and Inter, who were merely content to wait for opportunities to counter-attack, saw the game out quite comfortably to progress 2-0 on aggregate.
The home side, perhaps riled up by Mourinho's controversial post-match comments about the postponement of their league clash with Zenit St Petersburg, had actually made a reasonably lively start to the game but their hopes of overturning their one-goal deficit were all but ended after just six minutes of play.
Inter were awarded a free-kick some 25 yards out and just to the right of the goal. Sneijder's subsequent strike was by no means sweet but it was low and it was hard, and after flying through Keisuke Honda's legs, the ball swerved its way past Igor Akinfeev. In truth, though, the highly-rated Akinfeev, who had thrown a forlorn left leg at it, really should have dealt with it better.
The away goal now in the bag, Inter knew that a disciplined defensive performance would see them through - and that's exactly what they produced.
CSKA responded to the shock of conceding so early by making an early change, sending on Odiah for Vasily Berezutsky. Odiah would ultimately make an impact but not a positive one.
Indeed, while CSKA pressed and pressed in the opening 45 minutes, they rarely troubled Julio Cesar in the Inter goal.
Tomas Necid did go close midway through the half with a well-struck effort while Pavel Mamaev miscued horribly when well-placed in the penalty area but, for the main, CSKA were reduced to speculative long-range efforts.
Cesar was called into action just before the break when he was forced to tip Odiah's 30-yarder around the posts but Inter were coping quite comfortably with everything CSKA had to offer and Milito could have put the outcome beyond all doubt 35 minutes but Akinfeev managed to stop his low drive with his legs.
That save kept CSKA in the tie but there was no way back for them after Odiah, who had already been booked for a foul on Sneijder, upended Samuel Eto'o in the early stages of the second half and was quite rightly shown a second yellow.
CSKA were now there to be routed but Inter barely looked bothered in making the most of their numerical advantage. Eto'o did close to scoring a fine individual effort late on only to be denied by a sublime, last-ditch tackle from Sergei Ignashevich but the game had long since petered out by that point.
Inter had qualified for the semi-finals of the Champions League for the first time in seven years in ridiculously facile fashion.