Inter one match away from making Champions League history

Simone Inzaghi's men have not had to bear the sight of their opponents celebrating a goal in the new Champions League format. Their flawless work in defence has, for the most part, earned them their second place in the standings as attacking output has not been their strongest suit this season. Inter would be far from the top positions if it weren't for a historic five clean sheets in five games. Having only netted seven times this season, 20 of the 36 teams in the tournament have scored more than the Italians, but none have conceded less. 

Given their opponents, securing five clean sheets was no walk in the park. The 'Nerazzurri' kicked off the new Champions League era in a rematch of the 2023 final against Manchester City, this time ending in a 0-0 draw. A 4-0 thumping of Red Star Belgrade was followed by three narrow 1-0 victories against Young Boys, Arsenal and RB Leipzig. Against 'corner kings' Arsenal, who scored 22 goals from corners since the beginning of the 2023/24 season,  Sommer's goal line remained uncrossed despite the Gunners having 13 opportunities to score from set pieces.

Regardless of what happens in their visit to Bayern Leverkusen tonight, Inter can already hold their heads up high. The reigning Italian champions can now proudly boast of being the only team to not concede a goal at this stage of the competition since the 2010/11 season. Manchester United were the last team to reach the sixth game of the European club competition without conceding a single goal.

In the 2010/11 campaign, the Red Devils went up against Rangers (0-0 and 0-1), Bursaspor (1-0 and 0-3) and Valencia (0-1) before eventually giving away a goal in the final match of the group stages. Valencia's Pablo Hernandez netted in the 32nd minute in the away tie to Old Trafford to stop United from beating Juventus' clean sheet record, whom they could ‘only’ equalise. That same year, Sir Alex Ferguson's side went on to reach the final of the tournament - before losing out to Barcelona - with names such as Van der Sar, Evra, Ferdinand, Vidic, Carrick, Giggs, Scholes, Chicharito, Rooney, Owen, Nani and Berbatov in the squad.

'The Old Lady' were also held back in their sixth encounter after successfully beating Ajax, Maccabi Tel Aviv, Bayern, Bayern and Ajax without conceding a goal in the 2004/5 campaign. In their home tie, Maccabi Tel Aviv striker Dego was responsible for putting an end to the Italians' record from the spot, before Del Piero found the equalised to end the match in a draw. With Fabio Capello at the helm, Juventus beat Real Madrid in the round of 16 before getting knocked out by Liverpool - winners of that year's Champions League edition - in the quarter-finals. Legends of the game such as Buffon, Cannavaro, Thuram, Zambrotta, Nedved, Camoranesi, Del Piero, Ibrahimovic and Trezeguet all played for the 'Bianconeri' that season.

For as long as group stages have been part of the Champions League, no one has ever managed to remain unbeaten after six rounds. Now it is up to Inter to break the pattern, but Leverkusen will not make it easy for them. Xabi Alonso's side have scored in 20 of their 22 official matches this season. Only Stuttgart in Germany and Liverpool in Europe have been able to keep them at bay. Such an attacking threat will be difficult for the Italians, who have conceded at least one goal in eight from 14 games in the domestic league, to contain.