Less than two years after the 2023 Champions League final, Inter Milan earned a hard-fought draw against Manchester City.
The Italian giants entered the Etihad Stadium just three days after another disappointing Serie A draw. Inter Milan dropped points to start their title defence against Genoa and most recently against Monza. Simone Inzaghi responded by making several changes to his starting XI for Inter’s Champions League opener, including replacing Lautaro Martínez with Mehdi Taremi.
Inter began the match with the intensity that the team had been lacking over the weekend. The reigning Serie A champions looked disciplined without the ball against arguably one of the best attacks in the world, using their organised formation to deny Erling Haaland many chances in the first 30 minutes. The Manchester City striker, however, got better and better and narrowly missed the target in the 36th minute as Yann Sommer stood rooted to the spot.
Inter looked to capitalise on the counterattack, using their pace to charge forward against City’s high line. The visitors’ best chance of the first 45 minutes came just before half-time when Carlos Augusto tried his luck from a tight angle in the opposition box, forcing Ederson to save with his foot.
Both teams had chances to score in the first half, but Inter missed a great opportunity in the 53rd minute. Matteo Darmian had plenty of space on the counterattack and instead of taking the shot himself, he played a backheel trick that found no one, allowing City to clear the ball unhindered from their own penalty area.
City had several half-chances in the second half, including a shot from Phil Foden from just 12 yards out in the 69th minute, but Inter’s defence did well to close down any space the English champions created in the final third. At the other end of the pitch, Henrikh Mkhitaryan fired a shot over the bar in the 76th minute.
Sommer was strong in the closing moments of the game, denying an İlkay Gündoğan header to keep the score at 0-0. Both sides traded blows for 90 minutes, but neither team was able to leave the Etihad with anything other than a point.
Starters
TW: Yann Sommer – 7/10 – Sommer made a crucial save in the second half to secure a clean goal against City, but he will be grateful that Haaland’s first-half shot went wide as the goalkeeper stood rooted to the spot.
Centre-back: Yann Bisseck – 7/10 – Bisseck made several great forays forward to link up with his midfielders on counterattacks and repeatedly dropped back into defence to help Acerbi and Bastoni.
CB: Francesco Acerbi – 7/10 – Just like in the 2023 Champions League final, the centre-back always seemed to be in the right place at the right time. Between clearing chances and making timely, calm interventions in his own penalty area, Acerbi delivered another memorable performance against Haaland.
CB: Alessandro Bastoni – 7/10 – Bastoni continues to impress for Inter, making the right decisions under enormous pressure to prevent City from scoring.
RWB: Matteo Darmian – 6/10 – Darmian had a clean possession, but will be remembered for his mistake on the counterattack in the second half: In the 53rd minute, the 34-year-old decided to play a pass with his heel instead of shooting at goal.
CM: Nicolò Barella – 7/10 – Barella was everywhere on the pitch for Inter. The midfielder was often the one initiating his team’s counterattacks, using his vision and precise passing to play play out from the back.
CM: Hakan Calhanoğlu – 6/10 – The midfielder did well to drop back into the back line and help out in defence, giving City another opponent to get past in the final third. He was quite effective against Kevin De Bruyne before the Belgian had to be substituted due to injury.
CM: Piotr Zieliński – 5/10 – Zieliński used his pace to get around Rodri and Lewis on the counterattack, but otherwise had a quiet 65 minutes before being substituted for Henrikh Mkhitaryan.
LWB: Carlos Augusto – 6/10 – Augusto was so good at controlling Savinho that the Brazilian was substituted at half-time. He also had Inter’s best chance of the first half but was unable to beat Ederson.
ST: Marcus Thuram – 5/10 – The striker failed to deliver when he was needed. Whether he was offside or attempting a shot when he should have passed, Thuram lacked the quality needed to get past City.
ST: Mehdi Taremi – 6/10 – The striker was able to showcase his counter-attacking skills tonight, but was let down by his teammates’ decision-making in the final third.
Substitute
Lautaro Martinez – 5/10 – The club captain could not have much influence on the game.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan – 5/10 – The substitute will be disappointed not to have scored the first goal of the game just ten minutes after coming on.
Denzel Dumfries – 5/10 – Dumfries failed to find the right rhythm in the attack.
Benjamin Pavard – 5/10 – Pavard did his best to prevent Inter from conceding a goal.
Davide Frattesi – 5/10
manager
Simone Inzaghi – 7/10 – Of course, Inzaghi would have loved to leave Manchester with a win, but the coach must be pleased with the discipline shown by his defence against Pep Guardiola’s side. Inter never seemed overly taken aback and more than deserved a clean sheet against the English champions.
His decision to bench Martínez will attract a lot of attention, but the striker has not shown the form he needs this season and looked a shadow of his former self on the bench tonight.
