MILAN – Inter’s 2020/21 UEFA Champions League began with a draw, with the Nerazzurri being forced to settle for a share of the spoils with Borussia Mönchengladbach despite Lukaku’s second-half brace.


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This is what Antonio Conte had to say after the match:

How do you think Eriksen got on?
“Like the whole team, Christian did really well, displaying great commitment and application. I asked him to be more decisive on the ball, and, just like the rest of his teammates, his performance was positive.”

Inter are going through an unfortunate spell, with a number of players currently unavailable…
“We need to focus on what is happening on the pitch and try to do our best, working as hard as we can in the process. Receiving the news about Hakimi testing positive for COVID-19 certainly wasn’t easy. We’d prepared for certain situations and Achraf was set to start. It wasn’t easy, including from a psychological point of view, but the lads approached the match with the right spirit and showed they are good men.”

Starting with a draw doesn’t make things easy, this also happened last year…
“I don’t think you can compare tonight’s game with what happened last year against Slavia Prague, when we failed to put in a good performance. Meanwhile, we played well this evening against a very decent side. We took the game to our opponents, and I don’t remember Samir making any saves. We created a lot of opportunities. I can’t reproach the lads at all, but we can obviously improve and rectify our mistakes.”

Were you limited in terms of what you could do in the last quarter of an hour as the team’s performance began to drop?
“Unfortunately, we didn’t have a lot of options on the bench. Bastoni has only trained twice with the group, while Brozovic has had a muscle problem. Furthermore, Sensi wasn’t available and Nainggolan has only been involved in one training session. We were then forced to substitute Sanchez at half-time due to an adductor problem. We’ll assess his condition.