Italian journalist Mario Sconcerti believes that midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan was Inter’s outstanding performer against Bayern Munich on his first start for the club, whilst Andre Onana has not yet fully risen to the occasion.
Writing in his column in today’s print edition of Milan-based newspaper Corriere della Sera, Sconcerti gave his thoughts on the duo who each made their first ever Nerazzurri starts against the German champions, and on the match as a whole.
Inter coach Simone Inzaghi decided to significantly rotate the starting eleven from the team that started against AC Milan over the weekend, and the results were mixed at best.
The performance by the team as a whole was not up to par against a very strong Bayern side, although the sense was that there was probably no Inter starting eleven which would have coped with the Bavarians on the night, and Mkhitaryan in particular gave a good account of himself.
“Inter had a few phases of the match in which they contributed something, but the difference was massive,” Sconcerti writes of the match.
He characterizes Bayern’s display with “Greater individual quality, something that’s rare to see in Italy with this much synchronization, organization, and above all speed.”
“The difference was at times embarrassing, against an Inter team who were willing but ultimately impotent,” he argues.
“Perhaps the best player on the pitch was Mkhitaryan, who benched Barella for the first time,” Sconcerti writes. “The most useless was Dumfries, neither winger nor help in midfield.”
“Inter made a number of errors on the counter, but there were no spaces, Bayern were everywhere,” he analyzes. “Inter were not up to the standard that had been hoped for but Bayern were even better than expected.”
“Inter were suffocated immediately before they got going, and they suffered from the smooth triangles that Bayern played in front of Onana’s goal,” he writes. “And as far as Onana, he didn’t yet seem up to par in a team that is lacking in leaders at this point.”
