Inter begin the defence of their Scudetto with a dramatic 2-2 draw at Marassi, as Marcus Thuram’s brace and a Yann Sommer penalty save were not enough to deny plucky Genoa at the 95th minute.
The Nerazzurri were missing Stefan de Vrij, Piotr Zielinski and Tajon Buchanan, with Mehdi Taremi and Marko Arnautovic carrying muscular problems. The Grifone sold both top scorers Albert Gudmundsson and Mateo Retegui, with Caleb Ekuban, David Ankeye and Alan Matturro injured, and new signing Andrea Pinamonti not ready, so Vitinha and Junior Messias were the only options in attack.
Marcus Thuram forced a low save from Pierluigi Gollini with the well-worked team move, while Hakan Calhanoglu’s swerving effort skimmed the far post.
Genoa threatened with Vitinha springing the offside trap, but hesitating when one-on-one with Yann Sommer.
That was only a warning, as they took the lead soon after. A free kick found the looping Mattia Bani header to bounce off the top of the bar with the aid of a Sommer fumble and Alessandro Vogliacco was quickest to react on the rebound.
Inter got themselves back on level terms, as Thuram soared above Bani for a glancing header on the fantastic first-time Nicolò Barella cross from the right.
The Nerazzurri were awarded a penalty when Thuram went down under a Milan Badelj challenge, but it was revoked after a VAR review because the Genoa captain got there first.
There was an extraordinary triple opportunity when Yann Bisseck caught Aaron Martin napping inside his own penalty area, but the first shot was charged down, there was a save on Lautaro Martinez’s follow-up and then Federico Dimarco’s shot was cleared off the line by Badelj.
After the restart, Junior Messias hit a fresh-air shot, while Dimarco had a goal disallowed because Matteo Darmian was offside when rolling across the six-yard box for the tap-in.
Gollini stuck out a boot to deny Thuram at the near post and Sommer almost gifted Morten Frendrup a goal with a poor pass, only for the midfielder to return the favour, doing the same with Messias.
Inter thought they’d had another goal ruled offside on 82 minutes when Thuram was sent clear by the Davide Frattesi disguised pass and dinked it first-time over the on-rushing Gollini. However, a long VAR check confirmed he was not offside and the goal stood.
VAR was involved again in stoppages, because Bisseck got all his angles wrong trying to head the ball and ended up getting it with his wrist. Junior Messias saw the penalty parried by Sommer, but the Brazilian was able to get it in on the rebound.
