Erling Haaland, Bukayo Saka and Lois Openda had tried and failed. Even Florian Wirtz looked like he might have found the task beyond him but then it got to Bayer Leverkusen time. It might not be Invincible season but this team never quite kicked its habit for late drama.
Wirtz flicked one last cross in, the ball deflecting into towards the penalty spot. Nordi Mukiele had an inkling was his moment just as it had been Exequiel Palacios', Josip Stanisic's and Victor Boniface's (among many), last season. His overhead kick connected with fresh air but he still had the correct senses. Alex Grimaldo flicked the ball back in the mixer, Martin Terrier got nothing more than a heel on the ball, teeing it up perfectly for Mukiele to drive home.
Over a near six-match clean sheet streak in the Champions League, Inter, once more some way from full strength, had largely quelled some of the best and brightest that European football had to throw at them. When they needed to ride their luck, they did so. When they needed a goalkeeper to come up big, Yann Sommer did just that but his save streak ended at 19 because all that counts for nothing up against Neverlusen.
Of course, there is more to this win, one which propels Xabi Alonso's side into the top two, than vibes. Camp yourself in the final third for long enough and you'll give yourself the best chance possible of a break coming your way. It took a while for Leverkusen to break into the Inter penalty area with regularity but after all, it was their patience and probing that proved unbeatable for every team in Germany last year. They scored in the 90th minute because for the 89 before, they had been wearing their opponents down. When you know, in the way Leverkusen players last season came to believe with indescribable zealotry, that the goal is going to come, it tends to more often than for the non-believers.
That 89-minute journey to victory, though. What a slog. How many first-half moves had to die at the hit-and-hope stage so that the ball might eventually pinball in Mukiele's direction? The turnovers came and the hosts had a matter of seconds to attack the defense before it was set, a back five shielded by three robust, experienced midfielders more than prepared to stick a boot in when required. This far but no further was the Inter gameplan.
In terms of final third touches the first half of this contest was hugely imbalanced, 145 to 45 in favor of the Germans. Get into the danger zone and it becomes a little more balanced, 13 to Leverkusen, eight to Inter, who had the better of the close-range efforts. When Granit Xhaka and Alex Grimaldo hit the ball from range, it stays hit. Still, those are the chances you'd rather give up against any opponent.
Come the second half, the vaguest of transition opportunities presented themselves to Leverkusen but invariably what was asked of them was to hit a precise through ball, on the run, past two or three bodies. Wirtz couldn't quite feed Palacios down the ever-shrinking alley between Sommer and Yann Aurel Bissek. Alessandro Bastoni was the epitome of composure as he flicked a Grimaldo pass to safety, Nathan Tella snapping at his heels.
Eighteen minutes to play and Jeremie Frimpong fizzed a pass to Wirtz, finally in space in the penalty area. The ball sat up nicely for the volley off his first touch yet even when everything was executed with aplomb, a white shirt was across in time to blot out the shot. At the time it felt like nothing would break this excellent Inter rearguard.
All the while though, the shots, the xG, the penalty box touches were drifting in Leverkusen's direction. Three times in the final quarter Wirtz had the space off the left flank to attack the area and shoot from just outside it. Then he chose differently, the three defenders that came his way unable to stop him from getting the ball back into the box. Federico Dimarco hurled himself at danger. A prostrate Bastoni flung out a leg. Nothing was stopping Mukiele.
The Champions League had best get used to this. Three more points from two games should be enough to take the German champions through to the round of 16. The winter break will afford Alonso a chance to nurse his troops, perhaps even to strengthen his options to play in behind a returned Victor Boniface and Patrik Schick.
This team may not be quite as dominant in the Bundesliga as they were last season but there is not a lot beyond that freak of a game against Liverpool that would suggest they ought to be discounted from contention. That touch of destiny seems to remain about Leverkusen, a team who can still turn their opponent's landmark moment into one for themselves, ideally at the last possible moment.
