Man City off the pace as Champions League campaign begins with ...

Josko Gvardiol or Ilkay Gundogan might have won it for City, with late chances that were blocked by keeper Yann Sommer but the Italians were not only good value for a draw but often the better team, against a City side now unbeaten in non penalty shoot-out outcomes at the Etihad for 32 European games.

For all their impressive start in the Premier League, City were curiously off the pace in their first step into Europe, “treating” supporters to the rare sight of their players needlessly turning the ball over in midfield.

It was wholly uncharacteristic for a Guardiola team and led to at least four good Inter breaks in the opening 20 minutes alone, any one of which might have brought the Italians the lead.

Marcus Thuram produced the game’s first save out of Ederson from one such attack, with just five minutes on the clock, then shot wildly wide before Hakan Calhanoglu had a couple of sights of goal without getting a shot on target.

It was far from vintage stuff from a City side showcasing their new “fourth kit,” the one inspired by the rock band Oasis and actually designed by their superfan Noel Gallagher.

At least that beige coloured oddity was a talking point for supporters because, as the game progressed, their players were, for once, failing to deliver any.

There was a Haaland header, following a skilful attack and cross from Jack Grealish, which the number nine headed straight at Sommer and Brazilian Savinho had a couple of promising moments, but squandered his best chance of the first half with a hurried effort that flew miles off the mark.

And the malaise was summed up just before the half hour when Ederson needlessly stretched to keep the ball in play and succeeded only in finding former Manchester United full-back Matteo Damian whose goalbound shot was blocked by Gvardiol.

It was curiously subdued, inside the stadium as well as on the pitch, although Ruben Dias briefly raised the temperature when he became the game’s first caution in stopping Piotr Zielinski and yet another Inter fast-break.

Certainly, the new tortuous 36-team expanded format has not only been difficult for rank and file supporters to digest but also removed a large element of jeopardy from Champions League group play.

With only the bottom 12 teams being eliminated from some sort of knock-out or play-off stage, “modelling” has predicted that eight points should guarantee a club of advancing, hardly the sort of format that sets the pulse racing every week.

Finally, though, as half-time approached, Savinho drilled across an open goal and, although nobody managed to get a touch, the crowd was briefly invigorated and the Brazilian himself waved around his arms to try and further raise the atmosphere.

Haaland almost responded himself, with City’s best chance yet, a low shot from the edge of the area which whistled past Sommer’s post with the keeper rooted to the spot.

But the half would end with yet another scare for the hosts after yet another unforced error which ended with Thuram wasting a good opening from the edge of the area, guiding his shot wide.

Worse could still have followed, as Mehdi Taremi teed up Carlos Augusto who forced Ederson into his best save of the match. You felt Inzaghi, who had been “out-Guardiola-ing” the City manager with his touchline antics in the first half, would have exploded if his side had taken a deserved lead into the interval.

His opposite number Guardiola had certainly seen enough and, predictably, threw on Phil Foden, for his first action of the new season, and Gudogan at the interval.

Coincidence or not, City instantly looked more threatening, with Foden clearing the bar from the edge of the area and Gundogan’s dangerous low cross being cleared.

Foden was also instrumental in the City press finally forcing an error out of Inter, and Allesandro Bastoni, although the England star’s shot was blocked.

Yet it was still a cagey affair and City still guilty of some appallingly poor passing and susceptible on the break with Darmian passing up one particularly promising chance to shoot, instead taking the baffling decision to back-heel the ball with no team-mates near him.

Foden forced Sommer into a good block although, in truth, he hit the effort far too close to the Inter keeper, although another former United man, Henrikh Mkhitaryan wasted a glorious chance to clinch the win when he blazed over a Denzel Dumfries cross.

MAN CITY (4-1-4-1): Ederson 6; Lewis 7, Akanji 6, Dias 6, Gvardiol 5; Rodri 7; Grealish 6, De Bruyne 5 (Gundogan 46, 6), Silva 5 (Doku 80), Savinho 6 (Foden 46, 7); Haaland 5. 

INTER MILAN (3-5-2): Sommer 7; Bisseck 7 (Pavard 75, 6), Acerbi 7, Bastoni 6; Darmian 5 (Dumfries 75, 6), Barella 7, Calhanoglu 8 (Frattesi 81), Zielinski 6 (Mkhitaryan 66, 6), Augusto 6; Taremi 6, Thuram 5 (L Martinez 66, 6). Substitutes (not used) Di Gennaro, J Martinez, Dumfries, De Vrij, Asllani, Pavard.

Referee: G Nyberg (Sweden) 6