Without their captain and top scorer, Inter Milan continue to pursue their first point of the UEFA Champions League (UCL) league phase when they host unbeaten Shakhtar Donetsk.
Match News and Current Form
Goalscoring hasn't been an issue this season for Inter, yet despite netting four times across their first two matches of the league phase, they lost to both Real Madrid (2-1 away) and Club Brugge (4-3 home) to start a new UCL campaign with consecutive losses for the first time since 2006/07. The Nerazzurri are on their longest losing streak in this competition (L4) and have been beaten in seven of their last eight UCL games (W1), more defeats than they suffered in their prior 41 such fixtures! That includes four straight defeats at home - a negative club record in Europe - though those are their only four losses at home since the start of December (W16, D3).
This appears to be the toughest test of Shakhtar’s league campaign so far, which has gotten off to a promising start with four points from two games. Only twice in their history have the Miners avoided defeat in each of their first three UCL matches, last doing so in 2014/15, when they advanced beyond the group stage to the Round of 16. Arda Turan’s side are in sparkling form overall this season, winning ten of their 12 competitive matches (D1, L1), but hitting the road in this competition presents a problem given that Shakhtar haven't won any of their last seven UCL proper away games (D2, L5) despite scoring in five of those games.
Head-to-Head History
Inter are unbeaten in their seven games against Shakhtar (W3, D4), conceding only one goal along the way. Ukrainian clubs haven't scored a single goal in their last nine games against Italian sides (D4, L5) since Shakhtar beat Atalanta in 2019.
Hot Stats and Streaks
Inter’s last seven competitive games produced over 2.5 goals.
Twelve of Inter’s last 16 UCL wins were accompanied by a clean sheet.
All four of Shakhtar’s UCL goals this season came in the final 15 minutes of either half.
Shakhtar’s last nine UCL games all saw at least one first-half goal.
Key Players to Watch and Missing Players
After he created six chances including an assist against Club Brugge, Federico Dimarco has now amassed seven UCL assists for Inter, just two short of Wesley Sneijder’s club record in this competition. Gleiker Mendoza has scored in each of Shakhtar’s two league phase fixtures and could become just their fourth player to net in three consecutive UCL matches for the club.
Inter’s injuries include captain Lautaro Martínez, Curtis Jones and Benjamin Pavard. Shakhtar’s issues are focused in defence with both Irakli Azarovi and Marlon expected to be out.
For all the latest team news, please check the Flashscore match centre.
Betting Analysis
These teams have been involved in plenty of high-scoring games, making over 2.5 goals a likely outcome here.
Author: Aaron Murphy