Call them “Champions League twists and turns”. third day of the top European competition offers a surprise with a capital S, that is, the Juventus home defeat against Stuttgart (0-1). Less sensational, but still significant, the Bologna KO in Birmingham on the Aston Villa pitch (2-0), while the can finally smile Milan, victorious on Club Brugge at the end of a far from easy match (3-1). Today it will be up to Inter and Atalanta, engaged against Young Boys (21pm) and Celtic (18pm), in the hope that the evening can prove more profitable than the one just gone by.
Juventus – Stuttgart 0-1: Perin saves everything (even a penalty), then surrenders to El Bilal Touré
Thus ends Juventus' unbeaten run, forced to update the seasonal score with the KO against Stuttgart. The Germans did not steal anything, indeed they were the ones who created the best chances, forcing Perin (and the Stadium post) to a night of great effort, above all the penalty saved from the unfortunate Millot. Many, in light of the minutes (we were already in full recovery), had already thought it would be a 0-0 match, instead the Germans had the merit of not giving up, not even after the aforementioned penalty with Danilo's expulsion attached. The result is the result of a below par performance, in which Thiago Motta's team never managed to find the thread of the skein, neither offensively nor defensively. Perin kept the show going with decisive interventions already in the first half, first on Demirovic and then on Undav, after which he repeated himself at the start of the second half on the same Bosnian striker and on Millot, not to mention the goal disallowed for the Germans for a touch with the arm. Juve were seen for the first time in the 65th minute with Thuram, protagonist of a great opportunity thwarted a few steps from the line, but in the final minutes it was once again Stuttgart who had the best chances: with the penalty by Millot (foul by Danilo, sent off for a second yellow card) and the goal by Atalanta's El Bilal Touré (90+2'), on which not even the splendid Perin could do anything.
Thiago Motta: “Deserved defeat, we didn’t do well and it’s my fault”
“Stuttgart certainly deserved it, they did better than us from the start,” Thiago Motta admitted. “We will have to quickly digest the defeat to start again strong against Inter, unfortunately we were unable to take control of the game away from them, we rarely had the ball at our feet. The Germans are certainly a difficult team to face and we suffered a lot, which is why it is a deserved victory on their part. We suffered their rhythm and their game, struggling to impose our ideas on the pitch. There are many things to analyse if we talk about the difference between Italian and international football where there is certainly a lot of pressure and less time to rest and think about the play. We suffered, but we had to do better. Everything we see today is shared with the club, even the fact of having only two strikers. We have to do better in attack, but it is also in the defensive phase that we should have done much better to not leave control of the game to the opponent. When we recovered the ball we were not well placed to restart and even when we built from the back we did not do well. Only at the restart we did something, but the big responsibility is mine and we have to improve for the next races".
Milan – Club Brugge 3-1: the Rossoneri suffer, but win with Pulisic and a brace from Reijnders
A festive evening instead for Milan, who can finally celebrate their first 3 points in the Champions League. The 3-1 against Club Brugge, however, was not easy at all, in fact the Rossoneri struggled a lot to put the Belgians under pressure, risking going behind at the beginning and being caught up even after the expulsion of Onyedika, sent off by the referee (on the indication of the VAR) after a foul on Reijnders (40'). A Diavolo was expected to be on the soft side, instead it was Hayen's team that started strong, creating five goal opportunities in just eight minutes: Maignan and the crossbar hit by Ordonez were decisive, to maintain the balance despite the supremacy of the guests. In the 34th minute, however, Pulisic took the stage, author of a goal directly from a corner, albeit with the kind collaboration of an uncertain Mignolet, betrayed by the intelligent dummy of Gabbia. Shortly after, Club Brugge was left with 10 men and many thought that the hard part was done, but at the start of the second half, Sabbe's equaliser (51') froze San Siro and forced Fonseca to start all over again. The coach opted to replace Leao, who had been anything but transcendental until then, and the move paid off immediately: Okafor, who had just come on, served the assist to Reijnders for the 2-1 for the Rossoneri (61'), banishing the ghosts that were appearing in the stadium. The Dutchman then repeated the feat in the 71st minute, this time on an assist from Chukwueze (who came on in place of an evanescent Loftus-Cheek), closing the match and giving Fonseca three golden points. At the end there was also room for the disallowed goal for Camarda, who thus became the youngest Italian debutant in the history of the Champions League: his header, however, was cancelled out by an offside, thus staining (but only minimally) the Devil's evening of celebration.
Fonseca: “Game changed after substitutions. Leao? No problem with him”
“We played a game without intensity, too slow in circulation against a team that was good at defending low – Fonseca's analysis – When Okafor and Chukwueze came on, the game changed, they brought more energy and the team gained intensity, after the second goal we did very good things. It's thanks to the players and mainly to those who came on, they changed our game and intensity. Leao? I think that offensively he did important things for the team, then I decided to change as I also did with Loftus Cheek, but in any case there is no problem with him, the change is not a punishment, I just thought we could be more incisive in the corridors. In the first half we didn't do things well and had difficulties, then the game became slow. If there is no space, we have to increase the intensity and instead we didn't succeed, it was a problem of understanding the moment of the game. Camarda? It's a shame about the disallowed goal, but he will have many opportunities to score others”.
Young Boys – Inter (21pm, Prime Video)
After the emotions of Tuesday it's time to dive into today's matches, in particular the one between Young Boys and Inter. Away match that is far from prohibitive for Inzaghi's Nerazzurri, who are facing an opponent who is last in the standings (worst goal difference, due to the eight goals conceded by Aston Villa and Barcelona) and who lacks any kind of star, as well as international pedigree. The poor form of Rahmen's men is also evident in Switzerland, after which they occupy an unedifying tenth place, 12 points behind league leaders Zurich: a terrible record, interrupted however by the 2-1 victory over Lucerne. Taking the 3 points shouldn't be that complicated, but it's clear that the match must be played with the right concentration, without sparing energy in view of Juventus. Inzaghi would have liked to rotate several starters, instead he will have to limit the turnover to a few elements: the fault of the injuries of Calhanoglu, Acerbi and Asllani, which will force him to play the starting lineup, with the exception of Bisseck, De Vrij, Carlos Augusto, Arnautovic and Taremi. Winning would mean entering the top eight and continuing to cherish the dream of direct qualification, an objective within reach but linked above all to the victories against Young Boys, Leipzig, Sparta Prague and Monaco: the other two, in fact, will be against Arsenal and Bayer Leverkusen and there the bar will be visibly raised.
Inzaghi: “Beware of Young Boys, we are not thinking about Juve”
“We mustn't think about Juve, we want to think game by game – Inzaghi's warning -. We will face Young Boys, who had some initial problems, but last year they won the championship by a landslide. They are a physical team, who have been playing in cups for many years, we will have to be careful. As for rotations, we had a traumatic problem with Asllani on Friday in training. Calhanoglu had an injury in Rome and the substitutions in midfield are limited, Zielinski did a good part of training, I will have to evaluate. I was happy with what Barella did in front of the defense, like last year in Lecce or Udine. He is giving us a big hand, one between him and Zielinski will play there. Barella, Mkhitaryan and Frattesi have spent a lot: it will certainly be Frattesi's turn, then two of the other three will start and one will probably come on. Roma's victory? It's a difficult pitch, Inter's history says so: it's a team with quality, that has invested a lot. I'll take a great performance and an important victory, it must make us continue on the path we're on".
Young Boys – Inter, probable formations
Young Boys (4-2-3-1): Von Ballmoss; Athekame, Zoukrou, Camara, Hadjam; Niasse, Lauper; Monteiro, Ugrinic, Colley; Ganvoula
On the bench: Marzino, Keller, Benito, A. Conte, Blum, Elia, Lakomy, Males, Imeri, Virginius, Itten
Coach: Rahmen
Unavailable: Janko, Pfeiffer, F. Conte
Disqualified: none
Inter (3-5-2): Sommer; Pavard, De Vrij, Bisseck; Dumfries, Frattesi, Barella, Mkhitaryan, Carlos Augusto; Taremi, Arnautovic
On the bench: Martinez, Di Gennaro, Darmian, Bastoni, Dimarco, Zielinski, Lautaro, Berenbruch, Thuram, Aidoo
Coach: Inzaghi
Unavailable: Buchanan, Asllani, Acerbi, Calhanoglu
Disqualified: none
