Inter Milan will hope to bounce back from their recent struggles when they take on Barcelona at San Siro in Tuesday night's Champions League encounter. The Nerrazzuri began the season among the Scudetto favourites but have abjectly failed to meet the early-season expectations.
Primarily, Simeone Inzaghi's men have struggled for form, and are yet to record wins in successive games since they last did so at the beginning of September. They approach Tuesday's clash on the back of back to back defeats against AS Roma and Udinese in Serie A.
Indeed, it is not due to the lack of effort on the part of Inter as in both matches they were able to take the lead. However, seeing out games with the right plan has been the Achilles heel of the former Serie A title holders. Ahead of their third outing in Europe, they will hope for better fortunes against a Barcelona side that ranks among the in-form clubs in Europe.
Over the weekend, Xavi successfully guided the Blaugrana to break a La Liga record of 18 games without a defeat set by Zinedine Zidane's Real Madrid side. The Camp Nou outfit kept their unbeaten La Liga run intact by defeating Mallorca thanks to Robert Lewandowski's first half strike.
Bar their last defeat to Bayern Munich in the Champions League, Barca have gone on an impressive nine-game unbeaten run since the competitive season began. They currently rank first in La Liga having accumulated 19 points from a possible 21 and are second in Group C of the Champions League.
The significance of the meeting with Inter Milan is that both teams have the same number of points after picking up wins against Viktoria Plzen, and a win will be huge in determining who could most likely qualify alongside Bayern Munich.
Key stats and head-to-head record: Inter Milan vs Barcelona
-
Inter have defeated Barcelona only once in five UEFA home games (D3 L1), and just twice in the last14 European clashes with the Catalans.
-
Barcelona have lost three of their last four away UEFA Champions League group stage matches (W1). Inter have lost four of their last six matches in all competitions, including their most recent games against Roma (2-1) and Udinese (3-1).
-
Four of Inter's previous six games have ended in defeat, including their most recent encounters with Roma (2-1) and Udinese (3-1).
-
Barcelona has been victorious in seven of its last eight games. The Catalans have only suffered one defeat in nine games this season, the loss to Bayern Munich.
Team news: Inter Milan vs Barcelona
Marcelo Brozovic and Romelu Lukaku are the most notable absentees for Inter Milan ahead of Tuesday's game. The former suffered a hamstring injury while on international duty while the latter has been recovering from a knee injury after making three appreances for the club following his loan move from Chelsea.
For Barcelona, a host of key players also remain unavallable for the trip to Italy. Ronald Araujo, Memphis Depay, Jules Kounde, Frenkie de Jong, and Hector Bellerin will all not be at the disposal of Xavi for selection as they recuperate from respective injury.
Broadcast information: Inter Milan vs Barcelona
Match details, result and original broadcast info
This match has ended. Below are the original Live broadcast details for this match.
Live TV coverage and streaming in United States
Live TV coverage and streaming in United States
