Inter Milan 3-4 Club Brugge: Nicolo Tresoldi hat-trick stuns San Siro

Inter Milan have now lost both of their opening Champions League league-phase matches, and this one will sting more than most. Club Brugge arrived at San Siro and left with all three points, Nicolo Tresoldi scoring three times — a 30th-minute penalty either side of two more in the second half — to put the Belgian champions 4-1 up before a Lautaro Martínez-inspired Inter rally fell just short at 4-3.

Tresoldi's penalty opened the scoring, and Lautaro Martínez's first goal, finished from a Federico Dimarco cross four minutes before half-time, briefly levelled it at 1-1. Brugge responded with Tresoldi's second in the 63rd minute, created by Carlos Forbs, and his third 11 minutes later — a clinical finish that completed the hat-trick and put the visitors two goals clear. Lautaro pulled one back in the 81st minute, only for Romeo Vermant, another Forbs assist, to restore Brugge's two-goal cushion six minutes later. Ange-Yoan Bonny, on as a substitute, scored in the third minute of stoppage time to make the final score 4-3, but by then Brugge's night was already won.

A result that flips Inter's season on its head

Domestically, Inter are flying: top of Serie A on 16 points from six games, with five wins and a single draw. In Europe, the picture could not be more different. A 2-1 defeat at Real Madrid on matchday 1 was forgivable against the holders; losing at home to Club Brugge is not the kind of result a club with Inter's Champions League pedigree can shrug off. Two matches, two defeats, zero points, and a goal difference of minus two heading into a league phase in which the bottom 12 of 36 clubs face elimination with no safety net into a secondary competition.

Defensive mistakes Cristian Chivu will want answers for

Inter conceded a soft penalty for Tresoldi's opener and then repeatedly failed to deal with Brugge's direct running down the flanks, where Forbs in particular caused problems all night — two assists on top of the space he created for Tresoldi's second. Manuel Akanji and Hakan Çalhanoglu were both booked in the first half as Inter struggled to get a foothold, and while the switch to chasing the game in the final 20 minutes did produce two goals, it also opened up the space Brugge nearly punished a fourth time. Inter finished with more shots on target, 12 to 8, and more of the ball, 53% to 47%, but none of that matters next to the four goals they conceded at home.

Tresoldi's tally and Brugge's turnaround

Tresoldi had already scored a penalty in Brugge's opening defeat to Aston Villa, so his hat-trick at San Siro takes him to four goals in the Belgian side's first two league-phase matches — a remarkable return for a forward few outside Belgium would have known by name before this season. It also turns Brugge's campaign around completely: a 2-3 home defeat to Aston Villa on matchday 1 is followed by a statement away win at one of Italian football's traditional heavyweights, and Brugge now sit level on points with sides that started the league phase as much stronger favourites.

Match facts

• 30' — Nicolo Tresoldi, penalty (Club Brugge)
• 44' — Lautaro Martínez (Internazionale), assist Federico Dimarco
• 63' — Nicolo Tresoldi (Club Brugge), assist Carlos Forbs
• 74' — Nicolo Tresoldi (Club Brugge)
• 81' — Lautaro Martínez (Internazionale)
• 87' — Romeo Vermant (Club Brugge), assist Carlos Forbs
• 90'+3' — Ange-Yoan Bonny (Internazionale), assist Aleksandar Stankovic
• San Siro, Milan — Champions League league phase, matchday 2, Tuesday 13 October 2026

What's next

Inter take their imperious Serie A form — first place, 16 points from six games — into their next league fixture still searching for a first Champions League point of the season, a position few expected them to be in after two matchdays. Club Brugge, by contrast, head back to Belgium with three points from an away trip to one of the competition's traditional heavyweights, and a scoring forward in Tresoldi who has now found the net in every league-phase match Brugge have played this season.