Fikayo Tomori admits to AC Milan ‘anxiety’ as Rio Ferdinand says Inter Milan forwards ‘dominated’ ex-Chelsea defender

AC Milan defender Fikayo Tomori has admitted his side were anxious in the early stages of their Champions League defeat to rivals Inter.

The centre-back and his teammates struggled on the night and was criticised for his performance in the semi-final first leg by former Manchester United and England centre-back Rio Ferdinand.

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Edin Dzeko’s early goal set Inter on their way to a 2-0 winCredit: Getty

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Tomori and his Milan teammates struggled against their rivalsCredit: Getty

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: “Obviously we’re disappointed. Just the way we started the game, conceding two goals early on like that. The first one from a corner, obviously disappointing and then to concede straight after.

“A team like Inter it’s difficult with one goal, well even when it’s 0-0 it’s difficult, and to go two goals down in the first 15/20 minutes, it’s difficult. It was a kick in the teeth, and I think the first half it took us a while to get back in the game, second half we were better.

“But in the first half, I think there was a bit of anxiety within the team, and in a game like this you can’t give them a millimetre, a centimetre. I think in the first 15 minutes they came and they were really good with their pressure and yeah it was difficult.

“But, it’s only the first game, we can’t let our heads drop. Obviously we’re disappointed because this was the home leg in front of our fans, we wanted to take a positive result going into the second leg.

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The former Chelsea man was far from his bestCredit: Getty

“We know that if we play with the right intensity, then we can put them in a bit of bother. I think in the second half we were better and if we got the last pass or last shot just [with] a bit more determination, a bit more anger I guess you could say, then I think we could have scored.

“Obviously disappointed but we can’t dwell on it, we have to move onto the next game.”

Tomori has made a huge impression on the Milan defence since joining from Chelsea in 2021.

However, he was a shadow of his normal self against Inter, and Ferdinand was disappointed with his display.

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Mkhitaryan’s goal has handed Inter control of the tieCredit: Getty

“I said before the game there’s big showcase games, you’ve got to perform if you want to be propelled into being a top player, he said to BT Sport. “Unfortunately today it wasn’t one of those for him.

“One thing I would say, I think personally in individual duels, I don’t think he won enough of them. I don’t think he really impacted the two centre-forwards with any type of aggressiveness, challenges to really put a marker down at any point, they kind of dominated him.

“But one thing they did have is they had really good balls into them, they were allowed time to get their heads up from either defensive positions or midfield, or to run with the ball freely, and to get good balls into the forwards.

“If you’re playing good balls on the right side of the forwards to benefit them, players of [Lautaro] Martinez and [Edin] Dzeko standard, they’re going to make it difficult for any defender to be able to get near them, and they got that today.

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Tomori and co. now face a huge task of reaching the finalCredit: Getty

“I would say there was a little bit of that, but also you’ve got to assert yourselves in these games, you’ve got to put your marker down early in these games and not any point really did he do that.”

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.