A heavily rotated Inter side had to fight to earn a 1-1 draw against a well-organised Monza side at the Stadio Brianteo. Dany Mota opened the scoring in the 81st minute, but Denzel Dumfries equalised less than five minutes after the restart.

Check out the player ratings for an interesting affair in Monza.

Monza 1-1 Inter: Player ratings

Monza: Turati 6.5; Izzo 7, Mari 6.5, Carboni 6.5; Pereira 6, Pessina 6, Bondo 6, Kyriakopoulos 7, Maldini 7 (Bianco 6.5), Caprari 6 (Mota 7); Djuric 6.

Best Monza player: Dany Mota 7 – The Portuguese looked really difficult after coming on as a substitute at the start of the second half, but he finally scored his goal in the 81st minute when he jumped higher than anyone else in the box following a tantalising cross from Armando Izzo from the right.

Coach: Alessandro Nesta 8 – They laid out an excellent game plan and the players executed it almost perfectly. Inter were largely limited for most of the evening, while Monza were organised, composed and well disciplined. They were excellent defensively for most of the time and were rewarded with a beautiful cross and header for the winner late in the second half – against the reigning champions and favourites for the 2024-25 title. They could have managed their lead better, but Inter always kept going after falling behind.

Inter: Summer 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 seemed to be the best of Inter’s three centre-backs and provided Marcus Thuram with the game-winning assist just minutes after the restart following Monza’s late opener, albeit with a clear deflection. It was far from Inter’s strongest performance, but the former Monza player was the best of the bunch, back in his old stomping ground. Denzel Dumfries also looked motivated when he came on and did well to position himself in the right place to slot home Augusto’s cross.

Coach: Simone Inzaghi 5 – With games against Manchester City and rivals Milan in the next seven days, Inzaghi had to make some important decisions. He ended up fielding a heavily rotated team, which at times looked like a minor mistake, particularly when the Nerazzurri fell behind 1-0. Inter were not at their best on Sunday night, largely due to a well-organised performance from Monza, but responded in the best way possible, equalising just minutes later through Denzel Dumfries.

Serie A | Monza 1:1 Inter: Dumfries avoids Nerazzurri disaster