Rossoneri long lead 10 against 11, then the one-two of the Spaniards. Inter do not go beyond 0-0 in Ukraine
MILAN. AC Milan’s feat lasts until 97 ‘, Atletico Madrid snatch the victory thanks to Suarez’s penalty who scores 2-1 on a penalty in the recovery. Milan fails to cancel the zero from the Champions League group B standings, as requested by Pioli on the eve.
He comes close by playing a game of great sacrifice and self-denial, facing outnumbered champions such as Suarez, Griezmann, Joao Felix for an hour of competition. The condemnation of Milan is essentially Kessié, sent off on 29 ‘for a double yellow card. Up to that moment, in fact, Milan had played a great match, playing with aggression, rhythm, speed, loaded by the return to the Champions League at San Siro after seven years. Leao’s goal on 20 ‘gave the Rossoneri the well-deserved advantage: persistent action, then the attacker collects the ball from the edge and finds the low corner to Oblak’s right. Fans in raptures, a party that will last less than ten minutes. Kessié’s sensational naivety changes the face of a match up to that perfect moment for AC Milan. The Ivorian, already booked for a useless tactical withholding on Llorente in the middle of the field after a quarter of an hour of play, always comes late on Llorente. The referee, fiscal and perhaps a little too severe, has no doubts and extracts the second yellow card. Milan protests, Rebic is cautioned, and after just half an hour the balance changes for a Milan forced to play a game of only sacrifice against the Liga champions. And in the end comes the double joke.
Not good for the cousins either: Shakhtar Donetsk again, still 0-0, still a result that complicates Inter’s path in the Champions League not a little. As a year ago, in Kiev the Nerazzurri are unable to break down the wall of the Ukrainians, who this time, with De Zerbi on the bench, have also tried several times for the coup. Yet, exactly as with Conte last season, Inter returns from Ukraine with a bitter taste for the many wasted opportunities, between Barella’s crossbar and the series of opportunities thrown to the wind by Dzeko and Lautaro, with Pyatov who in the end was exalted by saving on Correa and De Vrij. A draw that was useful only to move the standings, after the debut defeat against Real Madrid, but the Nerazzurri had very different objectives, also to try to avoid the mistakes of the past and the frantic run-up to the second round in the last 90 ‘. Now no mistakes are allowed in the double challenge with the Sheriff, so as not to further complicate the European campaign.