Before returning to their home field, the Blues lost to Celtic, Manchester City, and Real Madrid. In their first five friendlies, they won against Club America and tied with Wrexham.
The home team had a solid first 45 minutes, but Thuram's beautiful strike in the 26th minute gave the Italians the game's first goal.
Chelsea was the better team for 90 minutes and had many good chances to tie the game. However, Ugocukwu's shot from inside the area in the 90th minute was the only goal that tied the game.
The score matters little for Enzo Maresca, but how they played showed much promise before their first Premier League game next weekend.
Chelsea needs to make the most of a good first-half performance.
The Italian winners didn't look like they would have much trouble with Chelsea going into the game because they needed to do better in most of their preseason games, losing disappointingly, like 4-1 to Celtic.
But that wasn't the case at all. The home team put together a lot of fast-paced passing moves that caught Inter Milan off guard, but Chelsea missed their chances.
Maresca was pleased with his team's 54% of the ball and lots of passing in the other team's half. His team also had nine shots compared to Inter Milan's two.
Summer sign-up: Marc Guiu's first 45 minutes were awe-inspiring. He almost scored several times, but Yann Sommer made great saves to keep him out.
Even though Chelsea played very well in the first half, they were still down 1-0 at halftime because Thuram scored one of Inter Milan's two shots with a beautiful left-footed strike into the top right corner.
The shot that gave Inter the lead on August 11, 2024, was blocked by Malo Gusto and Levi Colwill.
copyright Icon
Chelsea's defense flaws still exist.
Chelsea's defensive weaknesses were apparent during their full pre-season training for the 2024–25 Premier League season, and they were still clear in their final friendly match against the Nerazzurri.
Even though the Italian team played most of the game in their own half, Inter Milan looked very dangerous when they were ready and able to break out from the back.
Thuram's goal in the first half showed how weak Chelsea's defense is. Yann Bisseck could move into the middle of the field and charge at Chelsea's goal without being challenged by any Blues player.
Bisseck passed it to Joaquin Correa, who then sent it to Thuram. The striker let the ball move across his body before shooting with his left foot, and the goal was scored without a single major attack from a Chelsea player.
Inter Milan could easily break out of their defensive positions and move into the attacking areas several other times. Chelsea could have been behind by several goals if the Nerazzurri had been more effective on another day.
Chelsea's stars need to make the most of their First Preseason Minutes
Along with how well Maresca's team created chances, one of the good things was how well the Chelsea players played in their first pre-season minutes for the Blues.
Marc Cucurella played his first minutes for Chelsea since being on the Spain team that won the 2024 European Championships. He played the first 45 minutes.
In addition, Cole Palmer played for the first time since losing that final. He came on in the second half and helped Ugochukwu score the equalizer in the last minute.
Nicolas Jackson was the last player to play for the first time in preseason. He replaced Guiu in the 56th minute after the Spaniard pulled up with what looked like an injury, which means Jackson could get to start next Sunday.
What are Chelsea and Inter Milan going to do next?
The match against Inter Milan ended in a draw. It was Chelsea's last preseason game before their first Premier League game, which will be on Sunday at Stamford Bridge against Manchester City at 16:00.
The next game for Inter Milan is on Saturday at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris against Genoa. This will be the start of their defense of their Serie A title.
.png.webp)
0 Comments