On the statistics front, everything is good in Manchester. City have started their season as undefeated in England, and tonight, in their first Champions League game they remained undefeated. If they don‘t lose to Slovan Bratislava in early October, they will equal the longest unbeaten streak in Champions League history ( the current record 25 is held by rivals Man United). Now the bad news – they didn‘t win either. In the match against their 2023 Final rivals Inter Milan, they only managed a goalless draw in a game in which they didn‘t dominate as much as against other teams.10 – Internazionale had 10 shots in the first half against Man City; the first opposing side to have 10+ shots in the opening half of a UEFA Champions League game at the Etihad since Monaco in February 2017 (also 10). Unfazed. #UCL pic.twitter.com/2u3ihQFFMG— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) September 18, 2024 Inter is a serous team which came to Etihad having only lost only three of their last 20 Champions League encounters and they maintained that streak. They even had some good opportunities to stun the City fans, but were usually unprecise and their shots went over the goal, or straight at Ederson. On the other side, Erling Haaland was….well Erling Haaland, which means invisible against big teams. He had one good chance in the first half and that was it. Ilkay Gundogan played in the second half and could be a tragic figure for the home team, as he had two excellent chances within the five meters of Inter‘ goal, but both times failed to score.The first half could hardly be called interesting, at least until the first 30 minutes passed. No chances, no nothing (apart from City‘s expected dominance in possession). Inter Milan is a serious team with great defensive capabilities so the hosts found really few chances coming by, and even those chances were not considered big. The best two opportunities for both clubs came near the end of the half and both chances were later nullified due to offside. First it was Thuram‘s header from five meters which Ederson saved and then Bernardo Silva missed the ball completely in the goal area. Erling Haaland was there to miss a great chance as the ball went near the bar after the shot and that was it. According to the stats, Inter have enjoyed 10 efforts on goal, three of which have called Ederson into action, while Sommer had two saves, but in reality, nothing has been particularly exact or precise.Manchester City and Inter play out a 0-0 draw, but despite the lack of goals, it was an entertaining tussle at the Etihad Stadium.Erling Haaland will have to wait until Sunday’s meeting with Arsenal for a chance to score his 100th Man City goal. pic.twitter.com/tkTnsuHC0I— Opta Analyst (@OptaAnalyst) September 18, 2024 Savinho and De Bruyne were the casulties of Pep‘s will and were on the bench in the second half in favor of Foden and Gundogan (De Bruyne had a bit of an injury at the very end of the half) but nothing changed. Inzaghi changed something with 25 minutes to go when Lautaro and Mkhitaryan came in. And it was the Armenian midfielder who almost scored against his old rival (he used to play for Manchester United), but his shot went over the bar in the 75th minute. When no offensive City player could create a chance, defender Gvardiol tried minutes later, but Inter‘s Sommer was there to save it. The last two big chances was City‘s, but Gundogan‘s two headers from five meters ended up straight at Sommer in the 88th and 94th minute.UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE – MATCHDAY 1TuesdayJuventus – PSV 3-1 (2-0)/Yildiz 21, McKennie 27, Gonzales 52 – Saibari 90+3/Young Boys – Aston Villa 0-3 (0-2)/Tielemans 27, Ramsey 38, Onana 85/AC Milan – Liverpool 1-3 (1-2)/Pulisic 3 – Konate 23, van Dijk 41, Szoboszlai 67/Bayern – Dinamo Zagreb 9-2 (3-0)/Kane 19 pen, 58, 63 pen, 78 pen Guerreiro 33, Olise 38, 61, Sane 85, Goretzka 90+2 – Petkovic 49, Ogiwara 50/Real Madrid – Stuttgart 3-1 (0-0)/Mbappe 46, Rudiger 83, Endrick 90+5 – Undav 68/Sporting – Lille 2-0 (1-0)/Gyokeres 38, Debast 65/WednesdayBologna – Shakhtar 0-0Sparta Praha – Salzburg 3-0 (2-0)/Kairinen 2, Olatunji 42, Laci 58/Celtic- Slovan B. 5-1 (1-0)/Scales 17, Furuhashi 47, Englels 56, Maeda 70, Idah 86/Club Brugge – Dortmund 0-3 (0-0)/Gittens 76, 86, Guirassy 90+5 (p)/Man.City – Inter 0-0PSG – Girona 1-0 (0-0)/Gazzaniga (og) 90/Thursday19:45: (4.20) Crvena Zvezda (3.60) Benfica (1.95)19:45: (4.40) Feyenoord (3.70) Leverkusen (1.80)22:00: (4.10) Atalanta (3.50) Arsenal (1.90)22:00: (1.80) Atl.Madrid (3.60) RB Leipzig (4.60)22:00: (1.90) Brest (3.60) Sturm (4.50)22:00: (4.60) Monaco (3.60) Barcelona (1.80)***odds are subject to change***
