Fikayo Tomori, the AC Milan defender, has acknowledged that his team was nervous during the early stages of their Champions League defeat to their rivals Inter. The centre-back and his teammates struggled on the night and were criticized for their performance in the semi-final first leg by former Manchester United and England centre-back Rio Ferdinand. Inter opened the scoring after seven minutes through Edin Dzeko, with Henrikh Mkhitaryan making it 2-0 moments later. The result leaves Milan with work to do in the second leg, and Tomori revealed soon after just how tough the occasion was for his side. Reflecting on the defeat to BT Sport, he said that they were disappointed and that conceding two goals early on like that was not ideal. Tomori added that in a game like this, they couldn’t give Inter a millimeter or a centimeter, and in the first 15 minutes, they came and were really good with their pressure. However, he said that it’s only the first game, and they can’t let their heads drop. They need to move onto the next game.
Tomori has made a huge impression on the Milan defense since joining from Chelsea in 2021. However, he was a shadow of his normal self against Inter, and Ferdinand was disappointed with his display. Ferdinand said that there are big showcase games, and players need to perform if they want to be propelled into being a top player. Unfortunately, today it wasn’t one of those for Tomori. Ferdinand added that he doesn’t think Tomori won enough individual duels and didn’t impact the two center-forwards with any type of aggressiveness or challenges to put a marker down at any point.
Inter’s two-goal aggregate lead has handed them a huge advantage in the tie heading into next week’s second leg. Both sides will return to the San Siro on Tuesday as they battle for a spot in the final against either Real Madrid or Manchester City.