Escaping the Etihad Stadium undefeated is always a good thing but, looking back at what happened in Manchester tonight, Inter may also have a few reasons for regret. Simone Inzaghi’s Nerazzurri became the first team to avoid defeat at the hands of Pep Guardiola’s powerhouse this season and they did so by putting together a brave performance in their Champions League debut.
Inter managed to keep Erling Haaland at bay, preventing the Norwegian prodigy – who already found the net nine times this season – from doing much of his business. He only had one chance tonight, which the Nerazzurri easily defused.
Inzaghi benched Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Lautaro Martinez, who were not in the best form, to preserve them ahead of the upcoming Derby della Madonnina. They were both introduced in the second half and had their share of chances, even though Inter’s best occasion was entrusted to Matteo Darmian – who is not a striker, unfortunately, and it showed.
it was a tactically blocked match at the Etihad Stadium, with not many clear scoring chances. Guardiola’s side won the battle when it comes to ball possession, but that didn’t result in many threats posed to Yann Sommer’s goals.
Guardiola lost his maestro Kevin De Bruyne to injury at half time, and sent in Ilkay Gundogan to replace him, together with Phil Foden – who took Salvinho’s place. The two newly introduced players enhanced the Citizens’ offensive power, but Foden’s only shot on target was comfortably blocked by Sommer.
On 65 minutes, Mehdi Taremi released Darmian with a brilliant pass through, but the 34-year-old came up with a puzzling back pass rather than going for a shot from the edge of the box. Simone Inzaghi wasn’t happy about that but, all in all, he can be happy at the overall approach shown by his side.
Inter’s Champions League adventure started on the right foot. with one point salvaged in a stadium than nobody has been able to conquer in European competitions since 2018. And now, on to the Derby, which the Nerazzurri will approach in a much better mood than their troubled city rivals.
MATCH SCORECARD
September 18, 2024 – Champions League 2023/2024 First Round
MANCHESTER CITY – INTER 0-0
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MANCHESTER CITY (4-1-4-1): Ederson; Lewis, Akanji, Ruben Dias, Gvardiol; Rodri; Savinho (46′ Foden), Bernardo Silva (80′ Doku), De Bruyne (46′ Gundogan), Grealish; Haaland (Ortega, Carson, Walker, Stones, Kovacic, Nunes, McAtee) Coach: S. Inzaghi |
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INTER (3-5-2): Sommer; Bisseck (74′ Pavard), Acerbi, Bastoni; Darmian (74′ Dumfries), Barella, Çalhanoglu, Zielinski (65′ Mkhitaryan), Carlos Augusto; Thuram (65′ Lautaro Martinez), Taremi (J. Martinez, Di Gennaro, De Vrij, Asllani) Coach: Guardiola |
NOTES: Yellow Card: Ruben Dias (M); Added Time: 1st Half 3′, 2nd Half 4′