Dominant in the second half, Manchester City, with Manuel Akanji, were held 0-0 at home by a solid Inter Milan team, with Yann Sommer in goal, for their debut on Wednesday in the new format Champions League.
Far from their Premier League standards (11 goals in 4 days), Erling Haaland and his teammates remained silent against the Italians during this remake of the 2023 C1 final, won by the English.
City’s playmaker Kevin De Bruyne, visibly physically injured, only played the first half, while a shock clash with Arsenal awaits his club on Sunday.
Paris Saint-Germain, for their part, won in a difficult way against Girona (1-0) at the Parc des Princes, thanks to a goal at the end of the match from Nuno Mendes who took advantage of a big error by the Spanish goalkeeper, Paulo Gazzaniga.
Semi-finalists last year, the capital club, which won its first four league matches, missed several clear goal opportunities before that of the Portuguese left-back (90th). On the 2nd day, Tuesday October 1st, Paris will play on the Arsenal pitch.
In Brugge, Gregor Kobel’s Borussia Dortmund had no problems winning 3-0. The finalists of the last edition dominated for a long time before taking the lead in the last quarter of an hour.
Jamie Gittens, who came on in the 68th minute, scored the first two German goals (76th and 86th), before another substitute (59th), Serhou Guirassy, sealed the score from a penalty in the 95th minute.
On the other pitches, Bologna, with Remo Freuler and Dan Ndoye, failed to find the opening against Shakhtar Donetsk (0-0), Sparta Prague easily beat Salzburg (3-0) and Celtic Glasgow strolled against Slovan Bratislava (5-1).
