Man City were outplayed by Inter Milan and made to look one-dimensional at times, writes OLIVER HOLT after Etihad stalemate

Manchester City wore a new kit designed as a tribute to an Oasis album in their opening Champions League match this season, delivering a performance that never came close to ‘sure’ and only flirted with ‘maybe’.

The only thing that was clear about City’s performance at the Etihad Stadium was that they were outclassed for extended periods by an Inter team who they beat in the tournament final last June to lift the trophy for the first time.

Inter, the reigning Italian champions, may have lost Romelu Lukaku and Andre Onana, but under the continued guidance of manager Simone Inzaghi they have improved immensely. And although Ilkay Gundogan missed two good chances to put City ahead with headers in the final minutes, Inter deserved the least they deserved: a share of the spoils.

Many had expected Erling Haaland to grace the occasion by scoring his 100th goal for City in his 104th appearance, but Haaland was rarely in the game. Instead, the match was dominated by the skills of Nicolo Barella and Piotr Zielinksi in Inter’s midfield. Only their lack of clinical finishing prevented them from winning.

After City’s perfect start to their domestic campaign, Inter provided opposition of a different calibre. City’s struggles may have encouraged Arsenal, who City meet here on Sunday. Pep Guardiola will also be concerned about the fitness of Kevin de Bruyne, who was withdrawn at half-time.

City had handed Rodri his first start of the season, which seemed slightly ironic given that the man regarded by many as the Premier League’s best player had said this week that footballers are prepared to go on strike because of the number of games they have to play.

Rodri has not played a single club match since playing for Spain in the European Championship final on 14 July, his 63rd match of last season. Many criticize him, but with the new expanded format of the Champions League getting underway, he has a point.

Other players, including Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson and Barcelona’s Jules Kounde, have made similar calls for an end to the ongoing seasonal stealth scheme in which clubs, governing bodies and broadcasters are complicit in their attempts to extract ever more money from the sport.

The tricky part for the players is that they have to take their complaints first to their club management, who are only too happy to accept the money they get for stiff pre-season tours and TV deals that only exacerbate the demands of the schedule.

For example, it may be some time before we hear complaints from Spurs about the demands placed on their players, who decided to fly their players halfway around the world for friendlies in Australia at the end of last season when they were already exhausted after a long season.

Rodri and the rest of City’s midfield dominated possession in the early stages of the game, but of the two, it was Inter who looked the more dangerous in attack.

On several occasions, the pace and control of Marcus Thuram and Mehdi Taremi saw City counterattack, with the Italians counterattacking. Both forwards lacked the confidence to make the most of those early chances and their attacks fizzled out.

City offered only sporadic danger. Haaland’s powerful header was plucked from under the bar by Yann Sommer and Savinho fired high and wide when a cross found him on the edge of the area.

City were struggling and the atmosphere was subdued. Piotr Zielinski livened things up with a brilliant forward drive from the edge of the Inter penalty area, which was abruptly ended by a tackle from Ruben Dias, earning the Portuguese defender a yellow card.

City began to rediscover their talent as half-time approached. Haaland fired just wide and a minute later Bernardo Silva should have scored when he received a low cross from 10 yards out. He tried to clear the ball past Sommer first time but instead hit it in the air.

Inter wasted a chance when Kevin de Bruyne was caught deep in their own half and the ball was played to Thuram. Thuram opened up his body and tried to flick the ball past Ederson with his feet, but shot wide.

There aren’t many teams that make City look one-dimensional, but Inter managed to do it on a few occasions. They operated between the lines time and time again, turning City inside out and making them backpedal.

In the dying seconds of the half, Carlos Augusto burst into the penalty area and tried to beat Ederson from a difficult angle. Ederson went under hard to stop the ball, but if Inter had been more ruthless in front of goal, they would have led into half-time.

Guardiola made two changes at half-time. De Bruyne, who appeared to have picked up an injury late in the first half, was replaced by Ilkay Gundogan and Phil Foden came on for Savinho, who had enjoyed a relatively anonymous opening 45 minutes.

It had no immediate effect on Inter, who wasted another golden opportunity to open the scoring eight minutes into the second half.

Matteo Darmian, once of Manchester United, went for goal but, with only Ederson to beat, inexplicably decided the best course of action was to backheel the ball into the path of Nicolo Barella. Barella was as surprised as anyone and promptly fell over.

Inter coach Simone Inzaghi was so angry on the touchline that it looked like he could explode at any moment.

Midway through the half, Inter almost paid for their wastefulness when some beautifully intricate interplay between Jack Grealish and Gundogan created a chance for Foden from ten yards out. Foden should have scored but his shot was too close to Sommer, who smothered it.

City were now beginning to pile on the pressure. There was a sense that the momentum of the game had finally swung to the home side. Grealish was a constant threat down the left and there was general consternation in the stadium when Barella unceremoniously toppled him and somehow escaped a yellow card.

Inter tried to regain control and with 15 minutes to go Denzel Dumfries sprinted down the right and crossed to his colleague Henrikh Mkhitaryan, who got the ball on the penalty spot.

Mkhitaryan struck the ball beautifully, but it flew inches over the bar. On the sideline, Inzaghi again provided the entertainment, dropping to his knees and beating the ground with his fists.