Inter have been impressing in the Champions League this season with a team built on a strong base of Italian players.

This is highlighted in today’s print edition of Rome-based newspaper Corriere dello Sport, via FCInterNews, who declare that the Nerazzurri are “Made in Italy” with the likes of Alessandro Bastoni, Francesco Acerbi, Matteo Darmian, Nicolo Barella, and Federico Dimarco all having key roles to play.

Whilst Inter’s “International” reputation has long been borne out by the team’s successes over the years with players from all over the world rather than mainly building around top Italian talents, the Nerazzurri have had more than their share of great Italian players.

This season, there are numerous key players in Inter’s squad who are not Italian, from Andre Onana to Hakan Calhanoglu to Lautaro Martinez.

However, the Corriere notes, there is a distinctly Italian theme to the team, particularly at the base of the team.

In the Champions League, the Nerazzurri lined up with an all-Italian backline of Darmian, Acerbi, and Bastoni on Tuesday against Benfica.

Whilst there was no Milan Skriniar, absent through injury, or Stefan de Vrij, now second choice behind Acerbi, the team hardly missed either of those two pillars of the Antonio Conte backline.

Meanwhile, in midfield Barella has become more and more important to the Nerazzurri with each passing year since his arrival from Cagliari in the summer of 2019.

This season, the 26-year-old has ensured that there is a constant Italian presence in central areas for Inter, with his technical quality and all-action style of play, and increasingly his goals and assists, major factors for this team all season.

Then, there is Federico Dimarco, who did not necessarily come into this season as first-choice on the left flank but has earned his regular starting role.

The 25-year-old has largely started ahead of Robin Gosens at left-wingback, as even though the German arrived on a big transfer fee and with high expectations from Atalanta last January, it has been the Italian who has really made the role his own.

The same dynamic has been at play on the right flank as well, with Darmian having often been selected ahead of Dutchman Denzel Dumfries, although the injury to Skriniar has meant that the versatile former Manchester United man has more often been used in defense lately.

Apart from these five, the Corriere notes, there is also the presence of squad players like Danilo D’Ambrosio, Raoul Bellanova, and Roberto Gagliardini, who have ensured that even outside of the regular starting eleven there is real Italian representation within this side.