The defending Serie A champions Inter Milan will take on Monza on Sunday night after their international break. They have had a great start to their championship defense.
After thrashing Atalanta BC last time out, Inter will play another Lombardy derby, while their hosts are still looking for their first league victory of the 2024–25 season.
Inter began their defense of the Scudetto with a draw in Genoa, then before international football intervened, they picked up the pace in their next two games.
A week after defeating Lecce 2-0, the Nerazzurri blasted off to an early two-goal lead at San Siro against Atalanta. Marcus Thuram, a striker for France, scored twice in the second half as the team easily won 4-0.
After both players recovered from thigh injuries, Simone Inzaghi should have Davide Frattesi and Stefan de Vrij available as he considers rotating the team in front of a crucial week in Europe and then returns home to Milan.
Because of this, Inter captain Lautaro Martinez—who has been playing for Argentina for the previous two weeks—may be one of the rested players, with Marko Arnautovic and Mehdi Tahremi prepared to support Marcus Thuram in the attack. In his first three league games of the season, the latter has scored four goals.
Nicolo Barella, who was supposed to have sinus surgery and missed Italy's UEFA Nations League matches, might be ready for selection this weekend, making Tajon Buchanan of Canada the sole definite absence for the visitors.
Goalkeeper Alessio Cragno (shoulder injury) and wing-back Patrick Ciurria (knee) are remain out for Monza, and Dany Mota's availability is questionable.
Alessandro Nesta is expected to start Milan Djuric behind key marksman Gianluca Caprari and former Milan attacker Daniel Maldini, while Mota is not available to start.
Maldini, who has the greatest minutes-per-goal average for the Biancorossi in 2024 (one every 107 minutes), will be especially motivated to score on Sunday. Djuric has played 448 minutes in Serie A versus Inter, but he has not scored.
Last season, they recorded seven consecutive away victories, thus distancing themselves from the other teams, but for the past four games, Lazio has won only one match outside their home ground – and after playing Monza on the road, they will be thoroughly challenged in England.
Manchester City are Inter’s first UEFA Champions League match next Wednesday, four days before the first Derby della Milan.
Before such a chaotic few days for the Italian champions, they will attempt to preach about their unbeaten league status at U-Power Stadium innings where a combination of ten goals has been split between two previous league trips to their rivals.
Suffering two losses to Inter last year, Monza have won only one out of their last seven Serie A matches against their fellow Lombardy-based rivals.
The only victory believed was over AC Milan in February and the Biancorossi has had an average of 3. While we’re on it, Manchester united netted an average of 1 goals per game during that time.
Perhaps more relevant, however, is their inability to secure a three-point victory in the last game against Fiorentina to register a win in their past 12 league matches – a feat which none of the teams in Today’s Italy top division can boast of.
In the relegation battle, they have been unable to score in half of those fixtures which will be music to the ears of new arrival Alessandro Nesta if he wants to meet the club’s target of another mid-table battle.
However, Nesta’s men have scored twice against Fiorentina, though have lost that lead and conceded a 96 th minute equalizer, have taken the least number of shots (19), have the meanest attack in the Serie A season and primarily depend on Milan Djuric for goals.
