PREDICTED LINE-UPS | Inter v Benfica

The Champions League restarts this week and today, Inter will play Benfica.

Inter drew their first game in a disappointing outing against Real Sociedad. They were outplayed in Spain and Nicolo Barella had a red card overturned, but they still couldn’t take advantage. 

Benfica were thoroughly outplayed in their fixture against Salzburg and lost 2-0. They conceded an XG of 3.4 and it was a worrying display.

With Inter playing at home tomorrow, they will be clear favourites and expected to win. Their last league game was a convincing 4-0 win over Salernitana and Lautaro Martinez bagged all four goals.

The strike partnership between him and Marcus Thuram is still in its early stages, but a game like this could be great to build some confidence and chemistry.  

Group D is not one of the more muscular groups and after reaching the final last season, Inter are expected to top it comfortably. 

Benfica have made a near perfect start to the league with six wins from seven, but the Champions League is a level above and they will need to be at their best to get anything tomorrow.

Here are the predicted starting line-ups for the match:

Inter (3-5-2): Sommer; Pavard, De Vrij, Bastoni; Dumfries, Barella, Calhanoglu, Mkhitaryan, Dimarco; Martinez, Thuram

Benfica (4-2-3-1): Trubin; Bah, Otamendi, Morato, Aursnes; Kokcu, Neves; Di Maria, Neres, Silva; Musa

Trambak Bhattacherjee | GIFN