Tresoldi tears Inter open at San Siro

Inter were left with noise, anxiety and no points after two Champions League matches, beaten 4-3 at San Siro by a Club Brugge side carried by Nicolò Tresoldi’s ruthlessness and helped by Inter’s own errors.

The shape of the damage was simple enough. Tresoldi, the 22-year-old Italian-born Germany Under-21 forward, put Brugge ahead from the penalty spot after Hakan Calhanoglu fouled Carlos Forbs. He then seized on a mistake by Inter goalkeeper Josep Martínez for his second, and completed the hat-trick by reacting faster than the home defence with about 15 minutes left.

That alone would have been enough to expose Inter. The larger problem was that every time the match offered them a route back, they left another door open.

Lautaro Martínez kept them alive before the break, finishing a move that ran through Marcus Thuram and a Federico Dimarco back-heel. He struck again in the 81st minute to cut the score to 3-2 and restore belief inside the ground. But Brugge did not need much invitation to attack the soft parts of Inter’s defending, and Romeo Vermant found them in the 87th minute with the visitors’ fourth. Ange-Yoan Bonny scored in stoppage time, but by then Inter were chasing arithmetic rather than control.

A 4-3 defeat can sometimes flatter the losing side, and this felt close to that. Inter scored enough to make the night look competitive. They defended badly enough to make the result deserved.

For Brugge, the win changes the temperature of their campaign after the opening defeat against Aston Villa. For Inter, the pressure is already practical rather than theoretical. They also lost 2-1 at Real Madrid in their opener, which leaves them on zero points before a home match against Shakhtar Donetsk.

At this stage of the competition, panic is usually a little premature. But two matches in, Inter have managed the difficult part of European football — creating chances, finding scorers, keeping themselves alive in the game — and failed at the basic part, which is not giving a willing opponent so much help.