By Alessandro Schiavone in Leverkusen
By Alessandro Schiavone at _BayArena_, Leverkusen
Bayer Leverkusen 1-0 Inter MilanG
Granit Xhaka’s Bayer Leverkusen can take pride in being the first side to score against and see off Inter Milan in this year’s Champions League.
Frenchman Nordi Mukiele capitalized on a failed clearance by the Inter Milan rear-guard to register a 1-0 win and pull level with the Italians in second place with two matches to negotiate.
Reigning national champions, Inter Milan and Bayer Leverkusen were under no illusion about the size of the task. And their form made this fixture a hard one to call.
This promised to be a gripping contest with either side having scored 89 times on their way to the title last term. But it didn’t live up as the _Nerazzurri_ defended for their lives and were hard to break down.
Simone Inzaghi’s men rode their luck several times on their way to the last-ditch to the Frenchman’s last-gasp winner.
Nathan Tella was denied by the crossbar after only three minutes while Alejandro Grimaldi and ex-Gunner Xhaka’s efforts both failed to trouble Yann Sommer who was however forced into a flying full-stretch save to push away Florian Wirtz’s curler.
It took Inter 29 minutes to set the alarm bells ringing for the first time but Davide Frattesi headed over from Hakan Calhanoglu’s delivery. That was a one-off as Inter quickly retreated again
Yet with Inter unable to break Leverkusen’s first line of press and substitutes Niccolò Barella and Lautaro Martinez failing to offer any helping hand in transition it was a matter of ‘when’ and not ‘if’ the hosts would score.
Defender Mukiele was at their right place at the right time to transform the loose ball into three points, seconds after his overhead kick failed to come off.
Just like in the title race, Xhaka succeeded where his former side Arsenal failed by beating the 20-time Serie A winners.