City draw has Inzaghi in ‘despair’, Celtic hit 5: what happened overnight in world of sport
A bit quieter on the Champions League front this time around, but at least the managerial merry-go-round has started spinning
Slovan Bratislava is a name that always brings a smile, and not only because they were in the first European game I ever covered, a two-legged Europa League qualifying affair against the mighty Cwmbran Town more than 20 years ago.
Football dominates proceedings once again, but World Athletics have conveniently found more prize money just as boss Sebastian Coe begins his bid to become IOC president, and English cricket has sent a message about racism, although it’s probably not the one they intended. Here’s what happened while you were sleeping.
Drawing a blank
So, a day after teams couldn’t stop scoring in the Champions League, Manchester City and Inter Milan couldn’t find one between them at the Etihad Stadium, battling out a surprise 0-0 draw.
But not for the want of trying, and both teams squandered numerous chances in a breathless back-and-forth affair. City striker Erling Haaland was among those guilty of wasting guilt-edged opportunities to settle matters, but his misdemeanours were nowhere nearly as egregious as Inter’s Henrikh Mkhitaryan, who blasted over from eight yards out with the goal at his mercy.
Inter boss Simone Inzaghi praised his team’s “giant performance” but admitted he had fallen “into a state of despair when Mkhitaryan didn’t score”.
Worthy of mention
Celtic scoring five goals would not normally warrant a mention, because it’s usually in that two-horse race they call the Scottish Premier League, and because Scottish football generally.
But credit where it’s due: they managed to win their opening game in the Champions League at the 13th time of asking, with a 5-1 thrashing of Slovan Bratislava. Five players – Liam Scales, Kyogo Furuhashi, Arne Engels, Daizen Maeda and Adam Idah – got on the scoresheet.
