Inter Milan’s Hakan Çalhanoglu maintained his incredible penalty record as his penalty secured a 1-0 win for the Italians over Arsenal in the Champions League on Wednesday.

Neither side had conceded a goal in the first three games of the competition, but Arsenal’s defense was finally broken in unfortunate fashion on the stroke of half-time after a harsh handball decision against Mikel Merino.

Çalhanoglu has now converted 19 of 19 penalties in all competitions since joining Inter.

Arsenal laid siege to Inter’s goal in the second half, with Kai Havertz denied by home keeper Yann Sommer and another effort going just wide, but Inter defended superbly to move to 10 points from four games.

Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal had 14 second-half attempts but lacked creativity and are now seven points outside the top eight automatic qualifiers for the knockout stages.

Piero Cruciatti/Anadolu via Getty Images

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They have now lost three of their last six games in all competitions, including Premier League defeats to Bournemouth and Newcastle United.

The first meeting between the clubs in 21 years started with Inter on top and they were denied an early goal when Denzil Dumfries smashed a vicious shot against the crossbar.

Çalhanoglu then came close before the match became a cagey affair, with neither side taking any risks.

Arsenal looked comfortable but cursed their luck when Merino was judged to have blocked Mehdi Taremi’s strike and Romanian referee Istvan Kovacs pointed to the spot.

A VAR check could not save Arsenal and there was no doubt that penalty wizard Calhanoglu would beat David Raya.

Inter were content to absorb the pressure in the second half, with Arsenal lacking the invention to break them down.

Information from Reuters contributed to this report.