Inter Milan coach Cristian Chivu has decided to start Francesco Pio Esposito and Petar Sucic in tonight’s 2025/2026 Serie A Match Day 9 clash against Fiorentina.
This evening’s clash kicks off at 20:45 local time (19:45 BST) at the San Siro. Moreover, Inter look to bounce back from a morale-wracking 3-1 defeat at Napoli on Saturday.
Indeed, Inter’s impressive seven-game winning streak across all competitions came to a halt last weekend.
The visitors, meanwhile, have yet to taste victory in Serie A this season, picking up just four points in the first eight rounds.
Chivu has a nearly full squad available, with Marcus Thuram still recovering from a muscle problem.
The French forward is targeting a return for next weekend’s trip to Hellas Verona.
Inter Milan vs Fiorentina – Pio Esposito Joins Lautaro Martinez in Attack
All eyes will be on the Inter attack, where Francesco Pio Esposito will partner up with Lautaro Martinez.
The 20-year-old Italian striker, who impressed with his power and movement in the early stages of the season, will dislodge Ange-Yoan Bonny.
Despite scoring in consecutive league starts, the Frenchman faltered in Naples. As such, Esposito takes his place tonight.
Therefore, he partners Lautaro Martinez from the first whistle as Chivu continues to show faith in his young forwards.
Meanwhile, Lautaro will be out to end his scoring drought in Serie A. His last league goal dates back to the beginning of October.
Indeed, the Argentine last scored in a 4-1 rout of Cremonese on October 4, going two straight league games without scoring since then.
With Bonny demoted to the bench, Pio Esposito will seek his maiden Serie A goal at San Siro.
Inter Milan Vs Fiorentina – Petar Sucic Fills In For Henrikh Mkhitaryan
Elsewhere, Cristian Chivu has opted for continuity across the pitch, keeping faith in the same structure that has brought recent success.
Yann Sommer starts in goal behind a slightly changed back three. Indeed, Yann Bisseck gets the nod ahead of Francesco Acerbi and will line up alongside Manuel Akanji and Alessandro Bastoni.
On the flanks, Denzel Dumfries and Federico Dimarco provide width and attacking support.
In midfield, Nicolo Barella and Hakan Calhanoglu form a balanced duo tasked with dictating the tempo and supporting transitions both ways.
However, Inter lost veteran midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan to injury at the Maradona Stadium.
With the 36-year-old out of contention, Petar Sucic returns to the starting lineup for the first time since Inter’s 2-1 home win over Sassuolo.
Therefore, Piotr Zielinski starts on the bench again after failing to impress against Napoli.
Official Starting Lineups – Inter Milan vs Fiorentina: Esposito & Sucic Back In Starting XI
INTER (3-5-2): Sommer; Akanji, Bisseck, Bastoni; Dumfries, Barella, Calhanoglu, Sucic, Dimarco; Esposito, Lautaro.
Bench: Calligaris, Taho, De Vrij, Acerbi, Carlos Augusto, Luis Henrique, Zielinski, Frattesi, Diouf, Bonny.
Coach: Chivu.
Suspended: none.
FIORENTINA (3-5-2): De Gea; Comuzzo, Pablo Mari, Viti; Dodò, Ndour, Mandragora, Sohm, Gosens; Gudmundsson, Kean.
Bench: Lezzerini, Martinelli, Ranieri, Pongracic, Fortini, Parisi, Kouadio, Nicolussi Caviglia, Fagioli, Richardson, Fazzini, Piccoli, Dzeko.
Coach: Pioli.
Suspended: none.
Referee: Sozza.
Assistants: Costanzo and Passeri.
Fourth official: Fourneau.
Var: Ghersini.
Avar: Chiffi.
we do not talk enough about pio.. his ability to draw fouls and free kicks particularly when we are under pressure is amazing!! the kid going to be a star if he starts scoring consistently
Amazing win, happy for Sucic to be used over Zielinksi… but what is with this abysmal refereeing? Out of the 4 penalty incidents only 1 was given. Lautaros shove was soft i’ll give them that but still pushed in the back. Comuzzo rugby tackles pio and no pen, and then arm around his neck and no pen. Yet napolis phantom one is given… They really need to fix these decision making calls because it’s not up to par with a top 5 league
I cant agree more. The choke was a massive penalty. And rocchi or whatever his name is will probably say sorry. We need marotta to rant again tonight, but i doubt it. Still hope though
Last year when Bisseck performed bad at RCB, i said maybe he would play solid at CCB cuz he dont need to be fast and agile as RCB or LCB. Today we have seen exactly that. Tall, strong, solid, composed. Interesting that Inzaghi didnt saw that at all, and Chivu saw it now and actually had balls to try it. Forza Inter.
He has been in that position before, even under Inzaghi without great sucsess. But some guys need time to develop. Hopefully he has grown now. I´ve always believed in his capacity only waiting for mindset to mature.
BS i checked the last 2 seasons. There wasnt one game where he started in the middle back three during Inzaghi time in the Serie A. If he was maybe during the game few minutes in the middle this is not enough so you can rate him is he good or no at this position.
Forza Inter mille
I would rotate Barella, Sucic and Mikhi in a double pivot, and play Hakan behind the strikers (Frattesi as his rotation option).
We really need to get goals from midfield, and who can do that better than CAMs.
A nice result overall. Just wonder the reason for buying Henrique. The boy have not showed anything yet, and Chivu use Augusto on right rather than play Henrique so that’s not a good sign. We could as well saved the money and kept Zalewski.
Anyways, GG lads.
Henrique is a mid-table player. At least better than Diouf who is a bottom-table one. It is likely that both will move on in the summer.
Simone had some ideas for him. Too late to cry. Cant remember a brazilian other than roni (with the injuries) and imperatore (with the ptsd) that made it in Inter.
Maicon julio cesar Lucio 3 treble winners
You got me. Forgot about those 3 🙂
Important win for top 4 and clean sheet. Forza Inter.
Fuck top 4. This team can and will fight for first place.
Indeed. We are just 3 points behind, and we are winning games on a continuous basis.
True. The goal is 1st place and another final. Only this time i want the win there.
Yeah I don’t know about UCL, but this team has what it takes to fight for the Scudetto. There was a lot of talk about Juve and Milan, but I don’t think they can challenge for it based on what we’ve seen. Maybe Milan since they’re not playing in any European competitions, but they keep dropping points against smaller teams.
Juventus with Spaletti who tested what it means to win and will of Juventus is dangerous
Agreed
bisseck looked so much more comfortable in the centre..
I agree, I saw that already in the first half. Maybe he has grown up now? Not a mistake, played like he had gained 10 years of experience over the weekend. One of Inters best plyers today, together with Hakan, DiMarco, Bastoni and Susiic.
i always knew he had potential.. was just about finding the right place. a goal scoring fast young defender is a rarity.. thank goodness we didn’t sell him. if this is his performance in his first full game, imagine his confidence if he gets 3 full back to back games!
Today we saw the diffence between playing Sucic and Miki.
take that fiorentina!! lost our last seasons title bcoz of u
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Back to winning ways, boys
This game was frustrating af until Hakan finally scored.
Feels so good to win like this
Chivu went to a 4-4-1-1 to close this game off. Brilliant versatility shown here. Forza Inter!!!! Forza Chivu!!!
Another 90min match for Demarco. Thank you Chivu!
Only way he’ll ever regain his endurance. We were so used to see him play 60 minutes and then be subbed off by inzaghi
Carlos Augusto played as a RB for like 10-15 minutes. Now playing as LCB. This dude is versatile
He’s reminds me of the D’Ambrosio of this Inter Milan. Solid player all around and covers a lot of positions on the depth chart. Always super helpful to have those kinds of player in a team when we have a lot of games
Lets go for another one!!!
Hakan was poor in the first half, but really stepped up his game in the second…. bravo sir!!
Yes…180 degree change of attitude
I don’t think that’s a penalty but oh well
how is that not a penalty? no contact with the ball and he trips bonny…
If it were still 0:0, there would be no penalty.
Lol yeah I don’t think it was
At least they called one penalty LOL
They do so only when it doesn’t make any difference though
Thank God they finally gave us a penalty.
Oh no Zelienski
Bastoni, Turo, Marco and Chala are walking dead lol
thanks pioli.. inters no#1 fan!! closely followed by gasperini..
no acerbi no mhiki no problem
Henrique has disappointed till now, so Chivu decided to play left-footed Augusto there.
As Augusto is two footed, I often wondered about him playing on the right… 2 and a half years later, I get to find out….
He is just good at defending than Luiz
Agusto for Dumpy? That’s a bad sign for our Brazilian
hope toro gets a goal
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I like the intensity since Inter scored the first goal and Fiorentina are now forced to go forward.
nice to see dzeko!
Well played Sucic!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Chala showed his level again!!!! Good work.
Bissek has been outstanding in acerbi position!
Agree, he performs really well in the center CB.
bisseck pure class at ccb
Have to say positive impressions from Bisseck as ccb tonight.
Wow bisseck hes been really good
That was actually so disgusting
You mean to say humiliating?
I meant disgusting it was that good
sucic channeling his inner messi there
Now thats how to score your first for the club !
Wth was that SUSIC!!!!
Oh my word!!!!!! Sucic with a fucking beauty!!!! What a goal!!!!
Sucic is phenomenal
If Hakan played as an AM behind the strikers, he would likely score a good number of goals.
beautiful sucic… just beautiful.
I want to formally apologize to you for insisting on Zielinski. To be clear, I like Sucic a lot and I wasn’t trying to say that he shouldn’t play. I was just defending Chivu’s choice of playing Zielinski over Sucic on certain matches since I still believe that Zielinski has something to give to the team. But this game (especially this play) just proves who should be on top of the pecking order.
That was fucking amazing from Sucic. OMG
WOW
Fuck yeah!!!!!!!!!
Barella should have learned how to shoot from Chala
Pio has done his job, if it were a game in CL he would’ve got a penalty, now fresh legs are needed.
Thank you Hakan. Fucking finally. This has been one of the most frustrating matches to watch.
Hakan!!!!! That’s how you step up!!!! goooaaalll!!!!! At fucking last!!!!
So just to be clear…. if someone sticks out a leg, and falls over without contact, the linesman can give a penalty 15 seconds later… but if your centre back gets the striker in a choke hold TWICE, and drags the striker to the ground, that doesn’t even warrant a trip to the monitor…. the officiating in Serie A is a fucking joke!! I feel like I’m back in the early 2000’s…..
what is it with goalkeepers when they play against us.. suddenly they go into Superman mode
Ok, who is paying the refs now?
anyone but us.
So for future references if you have a guy in chokehold inside your penalty box it’s not a foul….ok.
Btw De Gea is still one of the best gks around, haven’t got a clue why did Manchester let him go.
ETH wanted a ball playing goalkeeper then, not that Onana has much chance to play in that role; man utd’s defenders (apart from Martinez) couldn’t organize play from the back to begin with.
It’s really wild, earlier i said it would take an assault to get a penalty and i was wrong.
we don’t get penalties for fouls.. we don’t get them for assaults.. guess one of our players need to get murdered to get a penalty.!! but it will be a tough one.. maybe var might find something off with that as well.
var will intervene and rule the murder as suicide.
He doesn’t even go take a look??? This is clear sabotage
This league is corrupt,
This league is corrupt
It shouldn’t take this long lmao. It’s a pen
If this isnt s penalty I’m done with this league
That HAS to be a penalty!!!
This is clear penalty.
will they have the balls to call it though
Come on lads, show something in the 2nd half!
Bad first half, hopefully we will improve and win in the second.
These kinds of performances happen when you need a technically-skilled Lookman and instead buy a lazy Diouf.
come on man. the ship has sailed.
lookman isn’t our player.
lets move on.
Frustrating half…. generally in control, but chances going begging! Bastoni and DiMarco were unlucky, but neither striker has had a shot that I can remember…. 3 worst performers have been Barella, Hakan and Martinez, and that’s a big worry!! These are the players that should be stepping up when we need them- not disappearing!! Time for Chivu to crack some skulls!!
We lack a dribbler so bad and one with pace at that.
That’s so obvious and so sad.
every single fan who watches inter can see that… suprising our management and scouting team can’t..
Barella trying to do too much, Bisseck has been better than Acerbi/de vrij last few games by a mile. We need to be honest about that, because if he was avg it would full of hate in here.
True, but at the same time, Fiorentina haven’t really been a threat.
To be fair bissecks actually been good in the middle maybe we could put him in the middle again for an expirment
Thank u calha
On a bright note, bisseck has been good in the CCB role
if only thuram is around this the type of game he thrive in
Don’t know what’s going on with Barella…. his 2 best games this season have been at DCM, but so far tonight, he has been awful!! Nearly every pass wrong….
If Barella replaces Hakan as DCM, who would you have take his place on the right? And who would play on the left? Would it be Barella as DCM, Sucic as RM and Fratessi LM?
generally yes, or Zielinski on the left if we wanted more possession….
Barella is awful to watch right now.
Rainy weather is bothering him so much
Barella not there mentally. Do all the wrong decisions today, hope he wakes up in the 2nd half.
Imo Pio is promising but not there yet for us. We need players that can challenge 1v1 and create unbalance in the opposition. This is too boring to watch.
Barrella and Chala have to step up
Once more in control, attacking constantly, but no real finisher.
Apparently rugby tackles in the box don’t warrant a penalty either…. the officiating in Serie A is a fucking joke!!
How is Comuzzos challenge on Pio not a pen? he’s not even looking at the ball
And yes, it would have been soft, but clear as daylight shove in the back on Martinez…. AND NO PENALTY!!!
Exact line up I’d have gone for, so can’t complain if it goes tits up!! Bisseck may have an error in him, but at least he can run!! We have to give it a go!!
Akanji and bissek…it will be a long night
So annoying it takes assult for us to get a penalty but any contact against us is a penalty this season
Anyone else gets a VAR soft pen there, a clear push
Yup
This is an energetic lineup with the exception of Bisseck. However I do think the team will do well. Last round there were 214 comments with many criticizing Inter. Let’s see how many today is in support of the club.
You prefer the ENERGY of Acerbi/de vrij to Bisseck?
being in support of the club does not necessarily mean being in support of the mistakes the club management made during the transfer window. Our stingy transfer policy has lead to missed transfer targets, and ultimately, to a weaker squad compared to the the top Serie clubs. In UCL we can not expect much either, so people who love this club and want trophies, are justifiably pissed off.
Maybe Bisseck can replace Acerbi and De Vrij at the center back role? I know a lot of people don’t think Bisseck has much of a future at Inter and have given up on him, but maybe this is the role for Bisseck. He’s definitely got more pace than the other two. We’ll see how it goes.
interesting to see how Bisseck fares today
Bisseck tho.
Happy Sucic is playing, hopefully we use our last game as motivation for today.