Italy international Alessandro Bastoni was sent off midway through the second half of Inter’s Champions League match against Shakhtar Donetsk in San Siro on Tuesday night after earning two yellow cards in the space of two minutes. Here’s what happened.
You can follow the action from Wednesday’s Champions League games on the Football Italia Liveblog.
Why was Bastoni sent off in Inter vs. Shakhtar Donetsk?
It had been a frustrating first hour for the Nerazzurri against Shakhtar: They were the pre-match favourites, had the home advantage but had been unable to find the breakthrough within the first 60 minutes.
Cristian Chivu’s side lost their first two matches of the 2026-27 Champions League campaign and had lost seven of their last eight games in the competition before facing Shakhtar.
With 65 minutes gone, it had started to look like it was going to be another frustrating evening for the Nerazzurri in Europe, and the task only got more complicated after Bastoni was given his marching orders.
Nicolo Barella had been preparing to take a corner from the right-hand side in the 66th minute, but referee Harm Osmers blew his whistle before the set-piece had been taken in order to show Bastoni a yellow card after an argument with Shakhtar’s Alisson Santana. The centre-back seemed bemused by the decision, and could be seen asking the referee ‘why?’ in English.
There was another delay before the corner kick was taken: This time it was Manuel Akanji’s turn for a telling off after giving his opponent a shove. He was not booked for that incident.
An unsuccessful corner was eventually delivered. Barella was looking to deliver the ball into the area in the second phase of the attack, but referee Osmers again blew his whistle as Oleh Ocheretko hit the deck after being pushed by Bastoni.
Ocheretko then celebrated passionately when Osmers walked over to Bastoni, after a slight delay, to brandish a second yellow card and send him off, two minutes after his original booking.