Bayer have been resurgent in recent weeks, recovering from their October malaise to register five consecutive victories across all competitions, and they started this game like a team that was confident of making it six from six.
Nathan Tella continued in his role of emergency striker in the absence of the injured Victor Boniface and Patrik Schick, and with just two minutes on the clock, the Nigerian crashed his volley against the Inter crossbar, having latched onto a lofted Jeremie Frimpong cross.
It would be the closest that the German side came to a goal in a half in which they were the better team without ever creating a clear-cut chance, with Yann Sommer only being called into action to make a handful of comfortable saves.
The away side were almost non-existent as an attacking force, as Simone Inzaghi seemed happy to lean on a defence that had yet to let him down in this season’s Champions League campaign.
This was Catenaccio with a double lock on the chain, as Matej Kovar did not have a single save to make in the first half, although the Italian side showed marginally more offensive adventure in the closing stages of the first half.
The break was no game-changer, as the match continued to plod along to a similar rhythm, with Frimpong poking high and wide after being teed up excellently by Florian Wirtz.
With Inter having made five changes from their weekend win over Parma, there was plenty of firepower on the bench for the Italians, and they were not afraid to use it as they introduced Lautaro Martinez and Nicolo Barella with half an hour to go. However, it had little effect on a match that seemed steadfastly destined to end goalless.
As the clock ticked down, it looked as though both teams would settle for a point, before the late drama that finally broke the Italian resistance.
Alex Grimaldo stretched to keep an attacking move alive and, despite his pull-back initially being cut out, the ball fell kindly to Mukiele, who thumped home from close range to seal a huge victory for Xabi Alonso’s side.