Inter Milan failed to reach the last 16 of this year’s Champions League after they were held to a goalless draw by Shakhtar Donetsk on Wednesday night.
The Italian side who had the opportunity to seal progression to the next round of the Champions League with a win here, were unable to find a way past the Ukrainian side, a result that sends them crashing out completely out of Europe for the remainder of the campaign.
The visitors who deserved to be in the Champions League due to their impressive showings against Madrid in two legs will be relieved to continue their journey in the Europa League after the result on Wednesday night granted them passage to the competition for the remainder of the campaign.
Inter were expected to be in their best shape heading into a match of this significance, but the Italian side appeared sloppy and strangely unable to finish their chances with striker Martinez guilty of missing a couple of chances.
The hosts started the brighter of both sides and were almost ahead in the 7th minute, but Lautaro Martinez was only able to shot at the crossbar from eight yards out after being found by a Nicolas Barella square pass.
The home team fashioned a couple of other chances in the first period but were still unable to finish past Anatolli Trubin.
The goalkeeper, however, was called into action to deny Martinez late in the first half as Inter dominated their visitors.
The second half was not any different from the first as Inter continued to fashion out chances, but they were resisted by Trubin who was able to make saves from Lukaku and substitute Christian Eriksen. In the end, Conte’s men had to settle for a draw, a result which effectively ended their European campaign for this season.
