Inter Milan carry a healthy 2-0 advantage into the second leg of their UEFA Champions League semi-final showdown with arch-rivals AC Milan on Tuesday night.
Inter dominated the first leg last Wednesday, with early goals from Edin Dzeko and Henrikh Mkhitaryan putting Simone Inzaghi’s side in control inside 11 minutes.
Although the Rossoneri enjoyed the lion’s share of the ball, the Nerazzurri racked up 16 shots and could have scored more goals on the night. Can Milan turn things around on Tuesday?
Inter head into the second leg on the back of a 4-2 victory over Sassuolo, thanks largely to a brace from Romelu Lukaku, who was a substitute in the first leg.
Thanks to Saturday’s triumph, Inter have climbed to third in the Serie A table – five points clear of fifth-placed AC Milan with three matches remaining.
The Nerazzurri have now won each of their last seven games across all competitions, scoring 21 goals (three goals per game) while keeping five clean sheets.
Having lost just one of their last 12 outings – and one of their previous 10 Champions League clashes – Inter will be confident of getting the job done on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, AC Milan suffered a disappointing 2-0 defeat at relegation strugglers Spezia on Saturday, meaning they find themselves four points shy of the top four in Serie A.
The Rossoneri have now managed to win just one of their last five matches in all competitions, with only two victories coming in their previous eight outings.
Although Milan have lost just one of their past seven Champions League clashes, last week’s defeat at the hands of Inter was a damaging failure.
It is also worth noting that each of Milan’s last five UCL games have produced under 2.5 goals, so the second leg is likely to be a low-scoring affair.
Head-to-head: Across all competitions, Milan have managed to win only one of their previous six meetings with Inter, losing four of the previous five.
To make matters worse for Milan, Inter head into the second leg on the back of three successive clean-sheet victories over the Rossoneri.
Team news: Inter will be without the inured duo of Milan Skriniar (back) and Dalbert (knee) for the second leg, and possibly for the remainder of the campaign.
Milan’s injury list contains Zlatan Ibrahimovic (knee), Ismael Bennacer (muscle), Rade Krunic (knee) and Junior Messias (muscle), while Rafael Leao and Alessandro Florenzi are doubts.
When you couple Inter’s dominance in the first leg with their strong record against Milan in recent times, it is difficult to make a case for Stefano Pioli’s side reaching the final.
Forebet predicts that Inter and Milan will play out a low-scoring draw at the San Siro, sending the Nerazzurri into their first UCL final since 2010.
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