We return to Champions League action on Wednesday with a visit to one of European football's most famous clubs and stadium when we tackle Inter Milan at the San Siro.
Incredibly, it will only be the third competitive meeting between the teams, as we face possibly our biggest challenge of the league phase with a tough trip to the home of the reigning Italian champions.
Ahead of the game, we've compiled everything you need to know about our opponents past and present before we lock horns in Milan:
The history
Football Club Internazionale was founded in March 1908 by a group of players who left the Milan Cricket and Football Club (now AC Milan) because they wanted to accept more foreigners - hence the club name deriving from international. They immediately joined Serie A and have remained there since - the only club to boast that honour.
The first of 20 league titles came in just their second season, and they enjoyed plenty of success in the 1930s, spearheaded by the goals of all-time top scorer Giuseppe Meazza, whom the San Siro is named after. A golden period arrived in the 1960s when they claimed three Serie A titles in four years, and back-to-back European and Intercontinental Cups.
However only three more league titles and two Coppa Italias would arrive in the final 30 years of the 20th century, and in 1993/94 they avoided relegation by a single point, but still won one of three UEFA Cups during the decade. Their fortunes and five straight titles were clinched between 2006 and 2010, culminating in becoming the first Italian team to win the Treble under Jose Mourinho.
His departure brought about a decade of decline which saw them go six seasons without Champions League football, but Antonio Conte helped reestablish them as one of the country’s premier sides, winning the title in 2021 before a 20th was added last term.
The stadium
One of the most iconic stadia in world football, the San Siro was opened in 1926 when Inter beat owners AC Milan 6-3. They shared the stadium from 1947 onwards, and ahead of the 1990 World Cup, its famous spiralling towers and red roof were added to take the capacity up to its present-day total of 80,000.
As well as that World Cup finals, it also hosted matches in the 1934 edition, Euro 1980 and four European Cup/Champions League finals, the last being in 2016. It will also host the opening ceremony of the 2026 Winter Olympics, but speculation continues to swirl around its future after both Milan clubs unveiled plans to build a new stadium on the outskirts of the city.
The manager
Simone Inzaghi has been Inter boss since June 2021. He enjoyed a notable playing career that saw him star for Lazio for 11 years, winning one Serie A title, three Coppa Italias and one UEFA Super Cup, and earning three caps for his country including partnering his brother, AC Milan legend Filippo, in attack.
Simone began coaching Lazio’s junior sides in 2010, and was handed the manager’s job six years later. He won a Coppa Italia, two Supercoppas and guided them back into the Champions League before replacing Conte at Inter, where cup success has continued. He came close to winning Europe’s top prize but saw his side beaten by Manchester City in the 2023 final, however Inter bounced back to win a 20th Serie A championship last season.
Last season
After second and third-place finishes in his first two seasons, Inzaghi’s side finished on top in 2023/24 to add a second Scudetto star to their shirt, becoming just the second Italian side to win 20 titles, behind Juventus.
It was a dominant campaign, with Inter winning 18 of 20 matches between October and March to leave everyone in their wake, and they clinched the title with five games to go in style, beating AC Milan 2-1 at the San Siro, ultimately finishing 17 points ahead of second place.
They scored the most goals in Serie A, with Lautaro Martinez grabbing 24 of them, while also boasting the stingiest defence. The Supercoppa was claimed with a 1-0 over Napoli, but an early exit in the Coppa Italia to Bologna was followed by a last-16 Champions League exit on penalties to Atletico Madrid.
The squad
Martinez has been the main goal threat for Inter since he arrived in 2018, and recently netted his 134th goal for the club to be their all-time top foreign scorer. He captains a side that also contains French international forward Marcus Thuram and Turkish midfielder Hakan Calhanoglu, who both chipped in with double figures for league goals last season.
No club received more call-ups to Euro 2024 last summer than Inter’s 13, including Swiss goalkeeper Yann Sommer, Benjamin Pavard of France, Dutch defensive duo Stefan de Vrij and Denzel Dumfries, and five Italian representatives - full-backs Federico Dimarco and Matteo Darmian, centre-back Alessandro Bastoni and midfielders Nicolo Barella and Davide Frattesi.
Francesco Acerbi won Euro 2020 with the Azzurri, while former Gunner Henrikh Mkhitaryan [above] has been a regular in Inzaghi’s side for the past two seasons. Marko Arnautovic will also be a familiar face from his previous Premier League stints, and Poland great Piotr Zielinski switched from Napoli in the summer.
The season so far
The defending champions struggled initially this season, winning only two of their opening five Serie A games including a 2-1 loss to their neighbours, marking their first derby day defeat in the last six meetings.
However, they have recovered from that setback by winning five of the last six league matches, and sharing a 4-4 draw with Juventus. A 1-0 win over Venezia on Sunday saw them move to within a point of league leaders Napoli.
In the Champions League, they started the league phase with a goalless draw at Manchester City, before thumping Red Star Belgrade 4-0. However, they needed a stoppage-time strike from this season’s top scorer Thuram [above] to beat Young Boys out in Switzerland to join us on seven points from their opening three matches.
The history
This will be the first time we have faced the Nerazzurri since one of our greatest-ever European nights, when we won 5-1 in the San Siro during the 2003/04 group stage, avenging a 3-0 loss at Highbury in the first-ever meeting of the sides in September 2003.
But two months later, Thierry Henry put us in front before a deflected Christian Vieri effort pulled the hosts level. After the restart, Freddie Ljungberg edged us back in front before some solo Henry magic made it 3-1, and late strikes from Edu and Robert Pires sealed a historic victory.
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