Champions League, Inter stops Guardiola’s Manchester City. Inzaghi: “We just lacked a pinch of selfishness in front of goal”

Manchester City-Inter 0-0 in the Champions League opener. Inzaghi, we lacked a pinch of selfishness in front of goal

Inter leave with a precious point and without conceding a goal at the Etihad Stadium, the unbeaten home of Manchester City in Europe: no one has won in the Champions League since September 2018 in the 90 minutes. The striker Erling Haaland in the face of the Nerazzurri defence he was left empty-handed and must postpone the appointment with the 100th goal in a City shirt (we are at the 104th game), while in the Premier League he started off like a rocket with 9 goals in 4 games. Test passed with flying colors for the Italian champion team.

“We just lacked a pinch of selfishness in front of goal, from Taremi’s chance to Darmian’s, but playing a seasonal debut match in the Champions League like this is not something everyone can do”, Simone Inzaghi’s analysis, to the microphones of Prime Video at the end of the match drawn 0-0 by his Inter against Manchester City. The Nerazzurri coach underlines: “Very good in the first half, then in the second half we suffered a bit, despite some dangerous chances created by us in which however we could have done better. – Inzaghi analyzed -. Playing this match in the debut in the Champions League and three days before the derby is not for everyone. This is the first time we haven’t managed to score and it will certainly be a reason for growth and work also in view of the derby”.

Taremi’s chance in the first half remains in the eyes – Simone Inaghi’s words -, perhaps he could have concluded. Manchester City is a great team because they always give the impression of being able to concede a goal but then they manage to sort out the situation. We lacked a bit of healthy selfishness, even on Darmian’s occasion in the second half”.

Manchester City fail to score at home after 40 Champions League group games

Inter achieved a feat by leaving the Etihad Stadium without conceding a goal: Manchester City had always scored in their previous 40 home games in the Champions League group stage and had only failed to score once in the last two-and-a-half years, including in the league. That too had been a 0-0 draw, against Arsenal in the Premier League last season.

Manchester City-Inter 0-0, Calhanoglu: Positive draw

“We played well on the pitch, having fun, this is a positive draw”, the words of Hakan Calhanoglu, Inter midfielder to Prime Video microphones after the Nerazzurri team’s 0-0 draw at the Etihad against Manchester City in the first match of the new Champions League. “We played against a very strong team, having fun, and also having a few chances to win – the Turkish player’s words – With the right courage and sacrifice we showed that we can compete against excellent teams.we want to continue like this to show that Inter is there and can cause problems even for the big opponents. Despite the few balls forward we did well, the point earned is positive”.

The draw with Manchester City is over, Sunday evening will be the time for Inter-Milan under the lights of the San Siro stadium: “The derby? I’m not thinking about it yet, I have to relax and recover my energy, we’ll think about it from tomorrow”.

Champions League, Inter contain Manchester City, 0-0 at the Etihad Stadium

Inter kicked off the new Champions League with a convincing draw: the Italian champions held Manchester City to a 0-0 draw at home. At the Etihad Stadium it ends with suffering and some potential opportunities not exploited by the Nerazzurri, authors however of a good performance in terms of character. A match almost entirely of waiting and counterattacks by Simone Inzaghi’s men, forced to tighten the lines to contain the citizens in the best possible way, strangely not very cold in front of goal in several very interesting situations. After the efforts of Europe now Inter will be awaited by the delicate derby against Milan in the championship.

At the start, the English immediately tried to put a lot of pressure on the opponent’s half, looking for a way to hurt the Nerazzurri. Inzaghi’s men tighten their lines, wait and as soon as they recover the ball they attempt a couple of counterattacks that are potentially dangerous, but always harmless. In the 24th minute, the first real chance for City fell to Savinho’s left foot. after a cross from the left, but the Brazilian makes a bad impact and sends it wide.

About ten minutes later, however, Haaland grazed the post to the left of Sommer with a diagonal shot from the edge of the area. The Inter response is entrusted first to Thuram, who in the 42nd minute missed the target with a first-time right-footer on a ball placed in the centre from the left.

In recovery, the Nerazzurri restart with Taremi serving Carlos Augusto, diagonal shot: Ederson deflects it into a corner.

In the second half, Guardiola’s team got back into the game and in the 69th minute created a giant goal opportunity. for the lead: Grealish and Gundogan free Foden to shoot after a beautiful exchange in a tight space, but the young Englishman fails to angle his right foot and is blocked by Sommer. Inter suffer but remain alive, returning to show themselves up front in the 76th minute again thanks to a restart completed by the newly entered Dumfries and Mkhitaryan: the Dutchman runs to the right and crosses into the centre where the Armenian arrives and kicks high from an inviting position. In the final stages, the English players pressed on in search of the winning goal, but the last two chances that fell to Gundogan’s head were unsuccessful.