Manchester City vs Internazionale Preview

Just over a year after meeting in the final of this competition, Manchester City and Inter Milan will meet again but this time in their opening game of the newly expanded Champions League.

Manchester City triumphed in the aforementioned game, beating Inter 1-0 to lift their first and only Champions League title to date. After winning the Premier League title last season, they are again the favourites to win the title this season.

Pep Guardiola’s side has the tools and momentum to start their charge in their Champions League campaign with a win. They are on a 23-game unbeaten run in this competition over 90 minutes (W16, D7), certainly enhancing confidence.

Also, City’s start to the domestic season couldn’t have gone much better either, with four wins from their opening four league matches. But it is worth noting that the Cityzens don’t have the best historical H2H record against sides from Serie A, with just five wins from their last 13 matches against Italian clubs (D5, L3), although four of those wins did come in their last five such games (D1).

Meanwhile, Inter Milan have also made an unbeaten start to their domestic season. However, results have been less impressive (W2, D2) – with the latest disappointment a 1-1 draw against Monza on Sunday.

That match did see key defender Stefan de Vrij return from injury, boosting Simone Inzaghi’s squad as they look to build on a strong recent record in this competition – just three of their past 20 UCL encounters have ended in a defeat (W11, D6).

The Nerazzurri could join an elite group of European giants in creating a bit of history if they were to win here as they’d become just the fourth side, along with Barcelona (7), Real Madrid (5) and Bayern Munich (5) to secure wins away at five different English teams in the Champions League – their last was a 1-0 win at Anfield against Liverpool in March 2022.