- Inter Milan held Manchester City to a 0-0 draw in a repeat of the 2023 final
- Simone Inzaghi was left fuming at one of his players early in the second-half
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Inter Milan boss SImone Inzaghi was left fuming at one former Manchester United star during his side’s draw with Manchester City.
The Italian champions opened their Champions League campaign with a 0-0 stalemate against Pep Guardiola’s side in a repeat of the 2023 final.
It was a resolute performance from Inter, who sat back and soaked up pressure with the aim of hitting City on the counterattack.
And their game plan almost came to fruition when right-back Matteo Darmian was put through on goal by Mehdi Taremi seven minutes into the second-half.
However, instead of taking a shot at goal, the defender bizarrely attempted to backheel the ball to Nicolo Barella, who lost his footing before City cleared their lines.
Inter Milan boss SImone Inzaghi was left fuming at one former Manchester United star
Matteo Darmian was put through on goal but bizarrely decided against taking a shot at goal
And Inzaghi was left livid as he ran out of his technical area to scream and both his arms around in disstaififaion.
Joleon Lescott, who was on punditry duties for TNT Sports slammed Darmian’s decision making.
The former City defender said: This is a strange decision, even if it was a successful one that went to a team-mate.
‘You would be questioning why you didn’t take the shot on. You can understand the frustration of the manager. It was a clear opportunity on goal.’
Rio Ferdinand added: ‘That was a right back in a goalscoring position, no understanding of where his touch should go, the quality. It was HD at one moment and then went blurry.’
Darmian was eventually substituted in the 75th minute, with Denzel Dumfries taking his place at right-back.
The Italian defender was eventually substituted in the 75th minute for Denzel Dumfries
Darmian played for United between 2015 and 2019, scoring one goal in 92 appearances across all competitions in that period.
He joined Parma in 2019 and year later moved to Inter where he has won two Scudettos and two Coppa Italia titles.
