20 September,2024 08:19 AM IST | Paris | AFP
Ruben Dias
Manchester City made a sluggish start to their Champions League campaign as they drew 0-0 against Inter Milan on Wednesday.
Pep Guardiola's side have won all four of their Premier League games this season, but failed to break down Italian champions Inter in a repeat of the 2023 final won by City.
City lost Kevin De Bruyne to injury at half-time and Phil Foden fired straight at Inter goalkeeper Yann Sommer with their best chance as Erling Haaland was kept quiet on a night he was chasing his 100th goal for the English club.
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"It was a very intense game against a strong opponent. We knew what was coming, they are a top team as well and they are used to winning, so we were not going to have an easy job," City defender Ruben Dias told TNT Sports.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan could have won it for Inter when he blazed over 15 minutes from time, allowing City to extend their unbeaten run in the competition to 24 matches - one off the record set by Manchester United between 2007 and 2009. It is just the second time in 42 home Champions League games under Guardiola that City have failed to score. "Our plan was to show that we're not scared to play here," said Inter midfielder Hakan Calhanoglu.
Meanwhile, Bologna drew 0-0 at home to Shakhtar Donetsk in the Italian team's first ever Champions League match. Lukasz Skorupski saved an early penalty from Shakhtar's Georgiy Sudakov.
Sparta Prague swept Red Bull Salzburg aside 3-0 with goals from Kaan Kairinen, Victor Olatunji and Qazim Laci, as the Czech champions won for the first time in the competition proper since 2003.
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