Man City 0 Inter Milan 0: Bore draw as European giants fail to put on show in money-spinning revamped Champions League
AS an advert for the monster new Champions League group stage, this will hardly have got the whole of Europe rushing off to buy new TV subscriptions.
A clash between the champions of England and Italy, and a repeat of the 2023 final, which was lacking in context or jeopardy or goals.
City were off-colour – and not just because of the bizarre design of a kit designed by Noel Gallagher in the shade of straw – and Inter were impressive, menacing on the break and unlucky not to win.
But what did it really all mean, with seven matches still to play in this monumental league table and with 24 of the 32 teams progressing beyond it?
These matches all feel like filler for the TV schedules. Content without enough meaning. Football to shrug your shoulders at.
It wasn’t a bad match. Inter were excellent in keeping Erling Haaland at bay after the Norewgian’s recent onion-bag orgy, which had seen him harvest nine goals from four Premier League matches.
Their counter-attacks were rapid and intelligent and they gave City plenty of scares, ahead of Sunday’s Premier League summit meeting with Arsenal.
As in last year’s final in Istanbul – which City won by a Rodri goal but might easily have lost – Simone Inzaghi’s side showed that it is possible to disrupt England’s perma-champions.
But both will surely advance, either among the top eight who gain automatic qualification or the next 16 who will head into a play-off.
Football is eating itself and this competition – which often only really comes alive in the knock-out stage – will take longer than ever to get going this season.
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There’s 1990s nostalgia in the air in the blue half of Manchester – Oasis are going to tour and City could be heading for the lower divisions.
City were unrecognisable in this strange kit, designed to mark the 30th anniversary of the Gallagher brothers’ debut album Definitely Maybe.
Nobody knows whether this will be their final European campaign for many years – that will all depend on a lengthy secret hearing into the 115 charges of financial wrongdoing brought by the Premier League.
And in the meantime, those who pay through the nose for match tickets and TV subs have no right to know what’s going on in regards to whether the club who have dominated the English game for a decade is legit.
Still, here we were in the brave new world of the Champions League’s ‘Swiss model’ group stage, with its vast table, its lack of symmetry and its ever-increasing burden on players.
Rodri, who had been talking up the possibility of going on strike due to overwork, made his first start of the season after injury.
If the Spaniard wants a bit more time off, he ought to try being a little more dispensable to Guardiola.
But here he was back in situ at the base of City’s midfield, the tick-tock man allowing City’s passing game to go like clockwork.
Further forward, though, City were finding Inter to be obdurate opponents.
Inzaghi’s side defended solidly and broke with pace and precision, while their manager provided magnificent entertainment with his touchline histrionics.
There was even a mistake from Rodri, who had his pocket picked by Mehdi Taremi before Inter surged forward only for Carlos Augusto to blaze one high and wide.
City had chances, Haaland heading straight at keeper Yann Sommer from a curling Savinho cross, Savinho himself firing wildly across goal, and Kevin De Bruyne finding the side-netting from an angle.
But this was far from the usual group-stage turkey shoot for City.
A dodgy clearance from Ederson went straight to former Manchester United man Matteo Darmian whose long-range shot was headed clear by Josko Gvardiol.
Ruben Dias was booked for a wrecking-ball challenge on Piotr Zielinski and Marcus Thuram was soon shooting wide from a Zielinski cut-back.
It was a lively watch. Haaland dropping deep and linking up well, steered a shot wide, then produced a headed interception which led to an opening for De Bruyne, Sonner advancing to smother.
Inter left their most dangerous break of the first half until last, Ederson saving with his right foot at the near post from Augusto.
It was Inter’s tenth shot on goal and it was all enough for Guardiola to make a double-change at half-time – Phil Foden replacing the hit-and-miss Savinho and Ilkay Gundogan on for De Bruyne, who appeared to have pulled a muscle late in the first period.
Those switches made little difference to the pattern of the match – City unable to find a final pass, Inter still menacing on the break.
It wasn’t until 69 minutes that City carved out their first genuine chance of the second half, Gundogan teeing up Foden, who, from close range, shot too close to Sommer.
At the other end, another United old boy, Henrik Mkhitaryan blazed over when presented with arguably the best chance of the night.
Sommer made an excellent diving stop to push out a Gvardiol drive and Gundogan placed one point-blank header straight into the keeper’s grasp, before he sent a diving header over in the dying seconds.