Marcus Thuram scored and Yann Sommer made some acrobatic saves, as an Inter side missing numerous big names only conceded an equaliser to Enzo Maresca’s Chelsea in the final minute of this pre-season friendly.
The Nerazzurri had their final match of the summer before the Serie A season kicks off against Genoa next weekend, but Simone Inzaghi had to do without injured Hakan Calhanoglu, Stefan de Vrij, Piotr Zielinski, Mehdi Taremi and Marko Arnautovic, while Lautaro Martinez only returned to training a couple of days ago after winning the Copa America. It was the first game at Stamford Bridge for new Chelsea boss Maresca.
Yann Sommer had to make a tricky one-handed save on a deflected Marc Guiu effort early on, but Inter took the lead with their first real chance.
Yann Bisseck surged forward from defence, Thuram combined with Tucu Correa and blasted left-footed into the top corner from just inside the box. This time, the high Chelsea press was beaten and left some big gaps in defence.
Sommer was again alert with a reaction save on Guiu at full stretch redirecting the Marc Cucurella effort. Cucurella was booked for a very late lunge on Thuram and moments later risked a second on Matteo Darmian inside the penalty area, but fortunately for him play had been stopped for an earlier infraction.
Federico Dimarco’s ferocious shot on the volley was kept out by a sensational Robert Sanchez save, followed soon after by an even more extraordinary Sommer save on the acrobatic Christopher Nkunku overhead kick.
So close to a stunning equaliser from Nkunku! pic.twitter.com/iKD6T24Vfl
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) August 11, 2024
Levi Colwill thumped the base of the near post from five yards and Nkunku didn’t get enough on the ball when trying to toe-poke in the Mykhaylo Mudryk assist.
Inter held on under pressure, despite largely only having youth team players ready to come off the bench, only conceding an equaliser in the final minute.
Denzel Dumfries gave away a dangerous free kick by tripping Raheem Sterling at the by-line and on that knockdown, Lesley Ugochukwu blasted it through Sommer from relatively close range.
Chelsea 1-1 Inter
Thuram 25 (I), Ugochukwu 89 (C)
Chelsea: Sanchez; Gusto (Ugochukwu 80), Fofana (Badiashile 69), Colwill (Tosin 69), Cucurella (Veiga 46); Fernandez, Lavia (Caicedo 46); Madueke (Palmer 46), Dewsbury-Hall (Nkunku 46), Mudryk (Sterling 78); Guiu (Jackson 56)
Inter: Sommer; Bisseck (Fontanarosa 72), Acerbi (Dumfries 60), Carlos Augusto; Darmian (Pavard 60), Barella (Topalovic 85), Asllani (Frattesi 58), Mkhitaryan (Berenbruch 80), Dimarco; Thuram (Salcedo 60), Correa (Quieto 76)