Chivu: Inter ‘Ready to Suffer’ After Gritty Shakhtar Win as Pressure Lingers

FolioPitch.com – 22 October 2026 | Cristian Chivu believes his Inter side finally showed the character required to grind out a Champions League result, insisting that Chivu Inter ready to suffer and we lacked that in Champions League was the defining theme of a tense, far-from-convincing victory over Shakhtar Donetsk at San Siro. The Nerazzurri scraped a 1-0 win thanks to Carlos Augusto’s late flicked finish from a Henrikh Mkhitaryan pass, a result that came despite Alessandro Bastoni’s dismissal for two quickfire yellow cards and a performance that rarely suggested dominance.

A Fragile Record Weighing on the Squad

Inter’s Champions League form has been a source of serious concern, having lost their opening two matches of the current campaign and seven of their previous eight in the competition. That record, Chivu admitted, left visible scars. “I think our Champions League results in the last year and a half left some traces and it showed in the first half,” the coach told Sky Sport Italia, acknowledging that the weight of history shaped his players’ approach.

It was not a disastrous opening, but as the contest wore on, Inter grew anxious about maintaining their shape against a Shakhtar side comfortable in possession and dangerous on the counter. Chivu’s men retreated, holding back rather than pressing forward, and the fluency that had been promised by a triple substitution only truly arrived after the hosts were reduced to ten men.

Heart Over Head After Bastoni’s Red Card

Paradoxically, Inter looked more coherent a man down. Rather than collapsing, they rolled up their sleeves and found the resolve that had been missing. “After that, we went down to 10 men and were able to add that something extra we had been lacking,” Chivu explained. “We rolled our sleeves up, realised we needed to do everything to stay united. It’s not always the prettiest football that gets you results, sometimes you need heart and mentality, accepting that extra effort.”

That sentiment is at the core of the coach’s message. For Chivu, Inter ready to suffer and we lacked that in Champions League is not merely a slogan but a diagnosis of what has gone wrong on the continent and what must now become a habit. The victory, earned through grit rather than guile, offered a template he hopes his squad will embrace.

Rotation, Injuries and a Reshuffled Defence

Chivu’s selection was shaped by necessity as much as strategy. Lautaro Martinez, Benjamin Pavard, Curtis Jones and John Stones were all unavailable through injury, while Djed Spence was handed his first Inter start. The defensive line was reshuffled once again, with Bastoni shifted to the centre of a back three, Carlos Augusto deployed on the left and Manuel Akanji on the right.

“At this moment, we only have three centre-backs and if needed Carlos Augusto,” Chivu said, explaining that his plan was to circulate the ball to break down Shakhtar’s compact four-man defence while using Akanji’s positional discipline and Augusto’s mobility. Spence, meanwhile, was chosen for his pace to counter the Ukrainian side’s quick wingers. The coach also confirmed he was trying to rest Yann Bisseck after a third game in a matter of days.

“We are all important and aware that it is a long season, there’s a game every three days, so you need fresh legs to maintain that level,” he noted. Yet he was candid about the limits of experience: “In the Champions League, you can’t do that, you’ve got to run fast, think fast, have the right confidence to do certain things.”

The Road Ahead

Inter’s Champions League campaign remains on a knife-edge, and Chivu knows that one scrappy win will not erase the doubts. But the manner of the victory, with ten men and against a technically capable opponent, may prove more valuable than the scoreline suggests. The coach’s repeated emphasis that Chivu Inter ready to suffer and we lacked that in Champions League reflects a deliberate shift in mentality, an attempt to instil the resilience that has so often been absent in Europe.

With injuries mounting and fixtures arriving every three days, Chivu will need that mentality to hold. The coming weeks will test whether this performance was a turning point or merely a temporary reprieve. For now, the message from Milan is clear: Inter must learn to embrace the grind, because in the Champions League, talent alone has not been enough.