Football News

Inter vs Atletico Madrid predicted XIs: Confirmed team news and probable lineups

By Squawka News

Published: 14:30, 20 February 2024

Inter Milan has been in unstoppable form since the turn of the year and hopes to have too much for Atletico Madrid in the first leg of their Champions League round-of-16 tie at the Giuseppe Meazza on Tuesday night.

The Nerazzurri,  who are last season’s Champions League finalists, have won all eight of their matches in 2024, a sequence that has seen them open up a nine-point gap at the top of the Serie A standings as well as claim glory in the Italian Super Cup.

Simone Inzaghi will now want his side to replicate that form in European competition, and the Nerazzurri should fancy their chances against an Atletico team that has been far from convincing on their travels this season.

‘The best years of my career’

This showdown will also be emotional for Atleti’s head coach, Diego Simeone, who represented Inter with distinction. It’s not the first time he’s coached a side against them, having previously returned with then Serie A outfit Calcio Catania in May 2011 only to suffer a 3-1 loss. Simeone, who made over 50 league appearances in a two-year spell, lifted the 1998 UEFA Cup and fondly looks back on his time.

“They were the two best years of my career, I have great memories of the people, of my teammates,” he told reporters. “They loved me a lot and I always gave my best. You feel something inside when you arrive at a place where you love people very much. It will be the same as when we played against Lazio and that is the beauty of football too.”

Team news

Inzaghi was able to rest first-choice wing-backs Matteo Darmian and Federico Dimarco for Friday’s 4-0 thrashing of Salernitana in Serie A, with both players set to return to the starting XI to face Atletico.

Central defender Francesco Acerbi could return following a calf issue. At the same time, midfielder Davide Frattesi has overcome a thigh problem, which leaves long-term absentee Juan Cuadrado as the sole player in Inter’s treatment room.

Atleti’s injury problems are more prevalent, with defenders Gabriel Paulista and Cesar Azpilicueta sidelined with winger Thomas Lemar. Meanwhile, there are doubts surrounding the fitness of leading scorer Alvaro Morata, who has been nursing a knee issue.

Predicted XIs for both teams

Inter Milan (3-5-2): Sommer; Pavard, Acerbi, Bastoni; Darmian, Barella, Calhanoglu, Mkhitaryan, Dimarco; Thuram, Martinez

Atletico Madrid (3-5-2): Oblak; Savic, Witsel, Hermoso; Llorente, Barrios, De Paul, Koke, Lino; Griezmann, Depay

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