Last season’s Champions League runners-up Inter Milan will be aiming to record their first win in Group D when they take on Portuguese outfit Benfica on Tuesday night.
Inter Milan have started the new season in impressive style, having won six of their seven games so far in Serie A, and they look like the team to beat ahead of their clash against Benfica. They kicked off their Champions League group stage campaign with a decent enough point in San Sebastian against Real Sociedad, which will look like a good result with time.
Inter returned to winning ways at the weekend with a crushing win at Salernitana after a surprise home defeat to Sassuolo the previous week. Like Inter, Benfica too are in need of the points to kick-start their group-stage campaign after a surprise home defeat to Red Bull Salzburg in the first round.
They played the majority of that game with ten men following Antonio Silva’s red card, and Roger Schmidt’s troops have won both their league matches since then, defeating FC Porto 1-0 last Friday night. The visitors currently sit second in the league with six wins out of seven, with an opening-day loss at Boavista their only blip.
Inter Milan and Benfica played out a crackling contest in the Champions League quarter-finals last season, with the Italians prevailing 5-3 on aggregate in April, only to eventually unluckily lose to Manchester City in the final. The Hard Tackle takes a closer look at the encounter ahead of the latest meeting between the two sides.
Team News & Tactics
Inter Milan
Non ci stanchiamo mai di vederlo… Chi ha esultato come lui? 🙌⚽#ForzaInter #SalernitanaInter pic.twitter.com/OdxAt3UJdH
— Inter (@Inter) October 1, 2023
Stefano Sensi is still out of action due to a thigh problem, though Juan Cuadrado may make his return from a tendon issue in time to take a place on the bench. Davide Frattesi has picked up a muscle strain and will be unavailable for this clash, having missed the Salernitana win at the weekend.
Simone Inzaghi got stick from the Italian media for rotating heavily for Inter’s opening game at Real Sociedad. But the Italian tactician could lean on his full-strength side to get the job done against Benfica.
As Marko Arnautovic has suffered a thigh injury that could keep him out until November and Alexis Sanchez has failed to impress against Salernitana, Lautaro Martinez and Marcus Thuram could be reunited up front: the former has been directly involved in 12 goals this season, while the latter has produced two goals and six assists during his eight competitive outings.
On the opposite end of the pitch, Alessandro Bastoni will make a return to the back three in place of Stefan de Vrij. The ball-playing Italian centre-back will be partnered up by Benjamin Pavard and Francesco Acerbi, with Denzel Dumfries and Federico Dimarco the preferred wing-back options.
Elsewhere, Turkish playmaker Hakan Calhanoglu is a key man in midfield and will likely be joined by Nicolo Barella and Henrikh Mkhitaryan in the absence of summer recruit Frattesi.
Probable Lineup (3-5-2): Sommer; Pavard, Acerbi, Bastoni; Dumfries, Barella, Calhanoglu, Mkhitaryan, Dimarco; Thuram, Martinez
Benfica
Roger Schmidt has no fresh injury concerns and is not expected to make many changes to the side that took to the field against FC Porto here. But he could be forced into one change as key defender Antonio Silva is absent against Inter through suspension after being dismissed against Salzburg in their Champions League opener.
Anatoliy Trubin is again set to start between the sticks, having earned the first-choice goalkeeper spot after arriving from Shakhtar Donetsk to replace departing stopper Odysseas Vlachodimos, who surprisingly joined Nottingham Forest.
🛫 A partida para Itália! 🇮🇹#UCL • #FCIMSLB pic.twitter.com/Uwlgnvinhh
— SL Benfica (@SLBenfica) October 1, 2023
Fellow summer signing Angel Di Maria has already made a major impact in Lisbon, with the 35-year-old scoring the winner against Porto on Friday — his fifth of the season. He will line up on the right wing, with Joao Mario set to operate on the other flank in support of lone striker Petar Musa.
Arthur Cabral is another decent option, but he hasn’t been able to break into the first team as of yet. Florentino Luis and Orkun Kokcu will continue to partner up in the engine room, with 22-year-old Morato joining veteran Nicolas Otamendi at the back, flanked by Alexander Bah and David Jurasek.
Probable Lineup (4-2-3-1): Trubin; Bah, Otamendi, Morato, Jurásek; Kökçü, Florentino; Di Maria, Rafa, Mario; Musa
Key Stats
- Inter have not yet lost to Benfica in their last two meetings (W1 D1).
- Inter Milan have won eight of their last nine home games in all competitions.
- Benfica have netted in nine successive Champions League away games.
- Inter have scored the opening goal in their last seven home games.
- The hosts have not lost the last 10 home matches in a row.
Player to Watch
Lautaro Martinez
The player to watch for the game between Inter Milan and Benfica is undoubtedly Argentine hitman Lautaro Martinez, who scored the 87th-minute leveller in the 1-1 draw with La Real at the Reale Arena and has been on fire since the start of the season.
He was the difference for Inter in their Serie A victory over Salernitana on Saturday, coming on for the second half to score four times in the 4-0 triumph as he took his tally to ten goals in eight outings. Inter will hope their captain is at his free-scoring best on Tuesday as they look to get their first Champions League win of the season.
Prediction
Inter Milan 2-1 Benfica
Inter Milan had to overcome Benfica en route to last season’s UEFA Champions League final and could do with repeating that trick to get this year’s campaign up and running. The Nerazzurri needed to dig deep to salvage a point on Matchday 1 away to Real Sociedad, but are favourites to get their first group stage win on the board against Benfica, who will be missing their star defender.
Benfica proved last season they shouldn’t be dismissed straightaway in the Champions League, and they may well breach Inter’s defences having scored six on their last two trips to San Siro. But the Nerazzurri look to be just too strong and should get over the line in the midweek.
