Serie A | Monza 1-1 Inter: Player ratings – Nesta unfortunate, resilient Nerazzurri

A heavily-rotated Inter side were had to fight back to earn a 1-1 draw with a well organised Monza side at the Stadio Brianteo, with Dany Mota opening the scoring after 81 minutes, only for Denzel Dumfries to equalise less than five minutes after the restart. 

Best Monza player: Dany Mota 7 – The Portuguese looked a real handful when he emerged from the bench early on in the second half. In the end, he got his goal after 81 minutes, leaping higher than anybody else in the area to meet an enticing Armando Izzo cross from the right channel. 

Coach: Alessandro Nesta 8 – Provided an excellent game plan, which the players executed almost to perfection. Inter were largely restricted for most of the evening, Monza were organised, composed and well disciplined. They were excellent defensively for the vast majority of proceedings and were rewarded with a fine cross and header for the winner towards the end of the second half. Against the reigning champions and favourites for the 2024-25 title, no less. Could have handled their lead better, but Inter were always going to kick on after falling behind. 

Inter: Sommer 6; Pavard 5, de Vrij 5.5, C.Augusto 6.5; Darmian 5 (Dumfries 6.5), Frattesi 5.5, Asllani 6 (Correa 6), Mkhitaryan 6 (Zielinski 5.5), Dimarco 6.5; Lautaro M. 5 (Taremi 5), Thuram 5 (Arnautovic 6). 

Best Inter player: Carlos Augusto 7 – Augusto looked the best of Inter’s three centre-backs, and provided the match-winning assist for Marcus Thuram just a few minutes after play re-started following Monza’s late opener, albeit with a significant deflection. It wasn’t the strongest Inter performance by any stretch of the imagination, but the former Monza man, back in his old stomping ground, was the best of the bunch. Denzel Dumfries also looked fired up when he came on and did well to put himself in the right place to tuck away Augusto’s cross. 

Coach: Simone Inzaghi 5 – With fixtures against Manchester City and rivals Milan looming over the next seven days, Inzaghi had big selection calls to make. In the end, he fielded a heavily rotated side and at times, that looked like a bit of an error, particularly when the Nerazzurri fell 1-0 behind. Inter weren’t at their usual best on Sunday night, largely due to a well-organised Monza performance, but responded in the best possible way, equalising just a few short minutes later through Denzel Dumfries.