Inter 1-0 Shakhtar Donetsk: Augusto ends winless European run despite Bastoni red

Ten-man Inter picked up their first Champions League win of the season with a 1-0 victory over Shakhtar Donetsk.

Despite seeing Alessandro Bastoni sent off in the 68th minute after two quick yellow cards, Carlos Augusto netted the winner in the 77th minute as Inter took all three points at San Siro.

Inter started on the front foot and twice went close inside the opening five minutes, but Marcus Thuram's low drive was tipped wide by Dmytro Riznyk and Hakan Calhanoglu saw an attempt from distance whistle past the post.

Ange-Yoan Bonny almost broke the deadlock before the half-hour mark, but was kept out by Riznyk, while Shakhtar could have taken a surprise lead ahead of half-time, though Josep Martinez was equal to Valerii Bondar's header.

The Shakhtar goalkeeper was called upon again in the second half to push wide a deflected strike from Thuram, though the contest then swung in the visitors' favour moments later.

Less than three minutes after receiving a yellow card for dissent, Bastoni was sent off for a second booking after hitting out at Oleh Ocheretko during an Inter free-kick.

However, the Nerazzurri would not be denied at home, with Augusto running in behind to latch onto Henrikh Mkhitaryan's pinpoint and poking past Riznyk to give Inter the lead.

Shakhtar did push for a point against the Serie A champions, but Martinez first kept out Newerton at the near post before also saving Mykola Matviienko's header from the resulting corner as Inter held on for the victory.

Inter get the job done

It would have been far from the performance Cristian Chivu would have hoped for from his side, but after going winless in their previous four Champions League outings, he will just be relieved to get back in the win column.

Inter still produced more expected goals (xG – 0.99 to 0.56) despite their numerical disadvantage, though they still only created one Opta-defined 'big' chance, which was dispatched by Augusto.

Augusto has scored in each of his last two games in the Champions League, after scoring just one goal across his first 27 outings in the competition, while Mkhitaryan (37 years and 273 days) became the oldest player to assist a goal in the competition for an Italian side since Francesco Totti (37y 355d) against CSKA Moscow in September 2014.

Bastoni, however, became the first Inter player to receive a red card in a Champions League game since Alexis Sanchez against Liverpool in March 2022, with only two minutes and 18 seconds elapsed between Bastoni's first and second yellow cards.

The centre-back will miss their trip to Feyenoord on MD4, but Chivu will no doubt remain focused on the three Serie A fixtures before their next Champions League outing.