KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Inter Milan dominated but it was held to a second successive draw in the Champions League, ending 0-0 at Shakhtar Donetsk on Tuesday.
The Nerazzurri hit the crossbar twice and were also denied by some superb goalkeeping from Shakhtar’s Anatoliy Trubin.
“I’m feeling positive because the team played with the right intensity and displayed the right attitude," Inter coach Antonio Conte said. "We took the game to our opponents and played as a real team, but we weren’t very fortunate.
“There’s disappointment because we created a lot of chances, but I can’t really criticize the lads, also because it was our fourth match in 10 days and we began this cycle with eight players missing.”
Shakhtar still leads Group B after its surprise 3-2 victory at Real Madrid last week. It has two points more than Inter and Borussia Mönchengladbach, which drew 2-2 against Madrid. The Spanish side scored two late goals to come back from 2-0 down and pick up its first point in the competition.
“I honestly believed we could have four points after two games, even more,” Shakhtar defender Davit Khocholava said. "I always believe in us. If you don’t believe, there’s no reason to play in the Champions League.”
Inter needed a last-minute equalizer to draw at home to Gladbach in their opener but it had routed Shakhtar 5-0 in August in the Europa League semifinal.
Shakhtar welcomed back several of the players who had missed the victory in Madrid because they were in isolation following a coronavirus outbreak in the squad. However, it lost forward Dentinho early on with a hamstring problem and he was replaced by Taison.
Inter almost took the lead moments later. Trubin did well to parry Romelu Lukaku’s effort and the ball came back to the Inter forward who cut it back to Nicolò Barella, but his shot cannoned off the crossbar.
Trubin then did even better shortly before full time with a sensational fingertip save to push Lukaku’s free kick onto the crossbar.
Inter continued to press after the break and should have broken the deadlock early in the second half. Trubin blocked an effort from Marcelo Brozović and Lautaro Martínez incredibly fired the rebound wide from close range.
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