Inter tries, but City beats the Nerazzurre in the Champions League.
It was a Champions League night for David Sassarini's Inter Milan, who hosted Andree Jeglertz's Manchester City, the current Women's Super League champions. The away team won 4-1 after an entertaining match with plenty of chances for both sides.
An intense and two-faced first half saw Manchester City go into the break with a 2-1 lead over Inter, led by a brace from a vibrant Fujino. The English side quickly took control of the game with a long and intense passing game. Hower, Inter defended with great order and compactness, closing down every central opening and forcing the visitors to make long-range attempts through Beney and Blindkilde, both of which were well saved by Rúnarsdóttir. With their first real attack, the Nerazzurre broke the deadlock: a quick, well-finished counterattack down the flank allowed Bartoli to time a cross from the left and tap in the ball to make it 1-0, leaving Yamashita the wrong way. City's reaction was swift: the pace of the exchanges increased, and the away team equalized thanks to a clever play from Blindkilde, who played a perfect through ball to Fujino : the striker found herself one-on-one with Rúnarsdóttir and beat her with her left foot. Building
on this lead, Manchester City continued to push forward in the closing minutes of the first half. Rúnarsdóttir excelled herself in instinctively blocking a close-range effort from Fowler, but Fujino was quickest to pounce on the loose ball, and she tapped in (44'), completing the British lead just as the first half was over.
The second half at the Brianteo stadium in Monza began at a high tempo. After the introduction of their new signings, Inter gave the visitors a scare in the 47th minute: Glionna orchestrated a quick counterattack and fed Bugeja, whose curling shot grazed the top corner, but Yamashita decisively deflected it into a corner.
Manchester City, however, quickly seized control and mounted a suffocating siege. The English side made it 3-1 in the 55th minute : Casparij latched onto an assist in the center, controlled the ball, and beat Runarsdottir with a well-angled right-footed shot. Inter felt the blow and had to rely on the miraculous work of their goalkeeper and Milinkovic-Savic's play on the line to prevent the deficit from spreading quickly.
Sassarini attempted to move the benches, but the momentum remained entirely English. In the 69th minute, City scored four goals: Hemp scanned the area with a perfect cross to the far post, where Clinton punctually moved in and guided the ball into the net.
The pace naturally slowed towards the end. Inter proudly attempted to push forward again, winning a few corners and coming close to scoring through Cambiaghi, but the Manchester defense did well to close down and not give up any space, defending with order and counterattacking with Hemp's speed.
After the 90th minute, four minutes of added time proved ineffective in changing the fortunes of the Italians, who nevertheless displayed the right attitude and aptitude.