Inter Milan vs RB Salzburg

Inter Milan will be looking to take a potentially crucial step to reach the Champions League knockout stages with a win over RB Salzburg at Giuseppe Meazza.

Fresh of returning to the top of the Serie A table with a 3-0 demolition of Torino at the weekend, last season’s Champions League beaten finalists are keen to maintain the unbeaten start to their Group D campaign (W1, D1). After fighting back late to draw 1-1 at Real Sociedad, Inter Milan squeaked past Benfica 1-0 at home last time out to begin their round as the joint-pacesetters alongside the Spaniards but only one point clear of third-placed Salzburg. Maintaining a near-perfect home record against Austrian opposition (W7, D1) would significantly bolster Inter’s chances of progressing beyond the Champions League group stages for the third season in a row. However, ‘I Nerazzurri’ cannot take anything for granted after delivering a mixed bag of performances in their last three competitive outings at Giuseppe Meazza (W1, D1, L1).

Meanwhile, Salzburg lost a foothold in the Austrian Bundesliga title race with a 1-0 defeat to LASK Linz at the weekend, stretching their winless run in all competitions to three games (D1, L2). So the pressure is on new manager Gerhard Struber to break last season’s ‘Italian hoodoo’ that saw ‘Die Roten Bullen’ go down 4-0 at this stadium to AC Milan in the Champions League group stages, which condemned them to an unwanted Europa League switch, only to bow out of Europe to Roma. Despite only registering two wins in their last ten Champions League fixtures (D4, L4), a piece of history is up for grabs here for Salzburg following a 2-0 triumph at Benfica on Gameweek 1. The perennial Austrian champions could post back-to-back away wins in Europe’s elite competition for the first time.