Castello Lukeba own goal earns Inter Milan victory over RB Leipzig

Inter Milan moved top of the Champions League standings as they eased to their fourth straight win by beating RB Leipzig 1-0 at the San Siro.

An own goal from Castello Lukeba midway through the first half proved enough for Simone Inzaghi’s men, who are yet to conceded a goal in this year’s competition.

Inter quickly established their superiority over the Bundesliga side, who travelled to Italy in the midst of a crippling injury crisis that got worse when Assan Ouedraogo was forced off with a foot injury.

Denzel Dumfries missed the target with a header from Federico Dimarco’s corner, then Lautaro Martinez could have done better with a volley from just outside the box.

There was a stroke of fortune to Inter’s opener when Dimarco’s free-kick eluded everyone as it threaded through the box before deflecting home off Lukeba at the far post.

Christoph Baumgartner then cleared Benjamin Pavard’s header off the line on the half-hour mark as Inter continued to press.

Despite their dominance, a second goal continued to elude the hosts, Dumfries flapping another effort over the bar and a Hakan Calhanoglu effort was well saved by Leipzig keeper Peter Gulacsi.

The visitors came closest when Antonio Nusa brought a one-handed save out of Inter keeper Yann Sommer.

But it was Inzaghi’s side who finished the match on top with Marcus Thuram heading onto the roof of the net, with Henrikh Mkhitaryan tapping home in stoppage time only for his effort to be ruled out for a foul in the build-up.

While Inter look set to soar into the next stage, the defeat is a further blow to the visitors who remain joint-bottom of the 36-team table with no points from their first five games.