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The Inter Milan goalkeeper suffered misfortune with Ajax in 2019 and subsequently battled personal and career challenges.
The look of elation on Andre Onana’s face after Lautaro Martinez put Inter Milan 1-0 up on the night and 3-0 ahead on aggregate against AC Milan was unmistakable.
The goal effectively knocked the stuffing out of Stefano Pioli’s side in the Champions League semi-finals, confirming Inter’s participation in the competition’s decider after a 13-year absence.
Massimiliano Farris believes Inter Milan's European march began after a group-stage defeat to Bayern Munich, but did it also start for Onana at the Allianz Arena?
The Nerazzurri assistant manager recently explained how Simone Inzaghi’s inspiring words after their 2-0 defeat by Bayern Munich on matchday one brought about a four-game unbeaten run that included three clean sheets.
Onana was in goal for those three games, although he made the most saves in the match where three goals were conceded — a 3-3 draw with Barcelona in Catalonia.
However, the Cameroonian’s best performances were reserved for the knockout rounds en route to Inter’s first final since they won the Champions League in 2010.
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Onana’s impressive knockout phase
Inzaghi’s troops have kept clean sheets in five of their six games after the group stage, with Onana’s shot-stopping contributing to those shut-outs.
A quick reaction save in the 1-0 win over Porto at San Siro denied Zaidu Sanusi and Mehdi Taremi before the hour mark before Romelu Lukaku netted in the 86th minute to take a slender advantage to the Dragao.
The final 15 minutes in Portugal saw the 2004 winners throw the kitchen sink at the Italians, but Onana handled Marko Grujic’s shot from the edge of the penalty area before tipping Taremi’s goal-bound effort onto the post in second-half stoppage time.
Denying the Iranian came either side of Denzel Dumfries’ goal-line clearance and Grujic’s header rattling the crossbar, and it was a surprise that Porto had not forced extra time in the tie.
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23:03 - 22.02.2023
UCL Zaidu Sanusi impeccable as 10-man Porto suffer defeat to Lukaku powered Inter
Romelu Lukaku's strike late in the game handed Inter Milan a slender advantage into the the return-leg.
Facing off with an in-form Benfica in the last eight brought about another tussle with a Portuguese side, with many observers backing Roger Schmidt’s high-flying team to oust an out-of-sorts Nerazzurri.
Unbeaten in the competition at the time, Benfica were stunned 2-0 by Inter in Portugal, preventing the competition’s second-highest scorers from finding the back of the net.
Onana denied Rafa Silva after 15 minutes with a routine save but thwarted Goncalo Ramos with the game’s last kick to see Inter take the clean sheet into the reverse fixture.
The second of the Cameroonian’s saves was one of the tie’s significant moments, unsurprisingly prompting hugs from members of his backline at full-time.
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Conceding three times in the reverse fixture requires some context: Inter were 3-0 up on aggregate after Nicolo Barella’s 14th-minute goal and led 3-1 on the night (5-1 in the tie) before Antonio Silva scored the away side’s second in minute 86 and Petar Musa netted a 95th-minute equaliser.
Milan were wretched in the attacking third over both legs — evidenced by an Expected Goals (xG) of 1,38 in the tie — but Onana’s stop to deny Brahim Diaz in the 11th minute on Tuesday night warded off the instigation of a comeback from Pioli’s team.
The fact that it was Milan’s only attempt on target on the night was notable. When it mattered, an admittedly flawed Rossoneri did not show the best version of themselves as they fell to a fourth straight loss against their rivals.
Onana is one of many Inter players expected to make their first appearance in a Champions League final next month, even if the goalkeeper should have experienced the occasion four years ago.
Onana’s Ajax disappointment
Erik ten Hag’s Ajax had eliminated Real Madrid and Juventus — clubs that had won a combined 15 European Cups between them — in the first knockout round and quarter-finals, only to be undone by a Lucas Moura hat-trick in the second half of the semi-final second leg.
The Brazilian’s second goal, four minutes after the first, was gutting as the Cameroonian had denied Fernando Llorente from point-blank range with a top save, only for a mix-up with Lasse Schone in the aftermath preventing the goalkeeper from claiming the resulting loose ball. Once it was 2-2, the growing sense of jeopardy was palpable.
Moura’s 95th-minute winner killed any hope of Ajax making the Champions League final for the first time since 1996. Ten Hag’s side had dominated the English side but fell prey to the away goals rule.
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Nevertheless, the underlying numbers showed that Onana prevented more goals than any goalkeeper in the competition, even if a misjudged Dani Carvajal cross saw Marco Asensio divert home from close range for a 2-1 Los Blancos win in Amsterdam.
Onana’s reputation as one of the continent’s best goalkeepers grew, yet a ban threatened to take him off that course.
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Extended suspension from football
The upshot of Onana testing positive for the banned substance Furosemide in October 2020 was a 12-month ban from football.
Mistaking it for an aspirin, the goalkeeper had accidentally ingested the drug prescribed for his wife after waking up unwell.
While not seen as performance-enhancing, the World Anti-Doping Agency highlighted that the loop diuretic medication could mask other forms of doping.
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Onana was hit with his year-long ban in February 2021, ruling him out of action until 2022. However, this was reduced to nine months after a partially successful appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in June 2021.
The goalkeeper had wanted the suspension removed, but CAS felt a nine-month ban was proportionate due to the player’s negligence.
This meant Onana was eligible to compete at the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations (held in Cameroon from January 2022 to February 2022), where he played every minute as the Indomitable Lions claimed a bronze medal after beating Burkina Faso on penalties.
The shot-stopper saved Ibrahim Blati Toure’s kick from 12 yards in the shootout.
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He had to bide his time after signing for Inter in the summer, as Samir Handanovic stayed Inzaghi’s first-choice goalkeeper in league games - although the Cameroonian was utilised from the off in Europe.
This changed in early October, as the Nerazzurri boss opted for Onana in a league game against Sassuolo. The former Ajax goalkeeper stayed as number one leading into the World Cup but there was more controversy around the corner.
Expulsion from Cameroon’s squad in Qatar
There was a bit of a stir when Rigobert Song’s XI for the Indomitable Lions’ second group game with Serbia was released. Onana was not starting.
Immediately, it was publicised that Song had taken exception to the 27-year-old’s adventurous style in possession, asking the Inter man to admit a more cautious and traditional approach.
There was pushback against the two-time AFCON winner’s request.
Backed by President of FECAFOOT Samuel Eto’o, the Inter shot-stopper was left out against Serbia — a game that ended 3-3, with a more conservative Devis Epassy in goal — and subsequently suspended before being sent home.
Onana retired from international duty on December 23, 2022.
Gunning for Champions League record
The goalkeeper has endured a topsy-turvy season since, with Inter losing six games in Serie A, of which the Nerazzurri man has been involved in five.
Onana and Inter have produced more coherent performances in Europe for almost the season’s entirety, even if their domestic form has stabilised.
Their man between the sticks has kept eight clean sheets in 12 Champions League appearances, putting him one behind the record of nine – jointly held by Santiago Canizares for Valencia in the 2000-01 competition, Keylor Navas for Real Madrid in 2015-16 and Edouard Mendy for Chelsea in 2020-21.
As he did in that 2018-19 season with Ajax, Onana’s shot-stopping has been at a high level, outdoing Thibaut Courtois after the first semi-final games for goals prevented.
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And so the redemption arc is almost complete for the Cameroonian who has not had an easy path to this year’s Champions League final.
The Inter goalkeeper could become the third African shot-stopper to claim European glory after Bruce Grobbelaar and Mendy with success against favourites Manchester City or Real Madrid.
In this form, you cannot discount Onana from reigning supreme in the continent’s most prestigious competition. And nobody would say it is undeserved.
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22:02 - 16.05.2023
Inter vs AC Milan: Rossoneri rue missed chances as neighbours reach first UCL final in 13 years
Inter's Lautaro Martinez scored the winner on the night, but Milan will feel they could have done better after missing vital chances
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