Inter Milan coach Cristian Chivu has decided to start Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Luis Henrique against Liverpool. This evening’s Champions League Match Day 6 clash kicks off at 21:00 CEST at the San Siro.
Inter head into their sixth Champions League outing under Cristian Chivu off the back of a 4-0 rout of Como in Saturday’s Serie A clash.
As a result, the San Siro giants have extended their winning streak in all competitions to three matches.
Therefore, the Nerazzurri will take the field in high spirits, aiming to bounce back from a dismal loss at Atletico Madrid last time out.
However, Chivu faces multiple injury worries, with a few key first-team players currently sidelined.
The absence of the starting wingback Denzel Dumfries is perhaps the most significant.
Inter Milan vs Liverpool – Henrikh Mkhitaryan Returns to Starting Lineup
Firstly, the big team news ahead of the match is that Henrikh Mkhitaryan will make his long-awaited return to the starting XI.
The 36-year-old has regained full fitness after slumping to a thigh injury in October’s league loss at Napoli.
Therefore, he takes Piotr Zielinski’s place in the engine room, slotting alongside first-team stalwarts Hakan Calhanoglu and Nicolo Barella.
As such, Petar Sucic and Zielinski start on the bench. The same applies to Davide Frattesi.
Meanwhile, Mkhitaryan has not played in the Champions League since the opening-day win over Ajax.
Cristian Chivu Puts Faith in Luis Henrique
Another couple of pre-match question marks surrounded the defense and the right-hand side.
Despite some injury concerns, Manuel Akanji starts in defense. Chivu has decided to start Francesco Acerbi k alongside Alessandro Bastoni.
As such, Yann Bisseck remains on the bench despite his significant improvement in recent matches.
Therefore, Stefan de Vrij starts on the bench again, with the Swiss star getting the nod at the heart of Inter’s backline.
Meanwhile, on the right side, with Dumfries injured, Luis Henrique returns to the starting lineup. Furthermore, Federico Dimarco starts on the left.
After registering his first Serie A assist against Como, Henrique has earned his maiden Champions League start in Inter colors.
As such, Carlos Augusto starts on the bench.
Inter Milan vs Liverpool – Official Starting Lineups
INTER (3-5-2): Sommer; Acerbi, Akanji, Bastoni; Luis Henrique, Barella, Calhanoglu, Mkhitaryan, Dimarco; Thuram, Lautaro.
Bench: Martinez, Taho, Bisseck, De Vrij, Carlos Augusto, Sucic, Zielinski, Frattesi, Diouf, Bonny, Esposito.
Coach: Chivu.
Suspended: none.
Unavailable: Di Gennaro, Darmian, Palacios, Dumfries.
LIVERPOOL (4-3-1-2): Alisson; Gomez, Konaté, Van Dijk, Robertson; Szoboszlai, Gravenberch, Mac Allister; Jones; Isak, Ekitiké.
Bench: Mamardashvili, Woodman, Bradley, Lucky, Kerkez, Wirtz, Nyoni, Ngumoha.
Coach: Slot.
Suspended: none.
Unavailable: Gakpo, Chiesa, Endo, Frimpong, Leoni, Bajcetic.
Referee: Zwayer.
Assistants: Kempter and Dietz.
Fourth official: Petersen.
Var: Storks.
Avar: Dingert.
I think we can see why Susic isn’t starting Inter’s matches anymore
one of the worse recent signings…
He’s literally the only good one….but as with frattesi players suffer with zero game time
He has disappointed many of us. The talent is there, but he is showing far less quality than I expected from him.
everyone just bring the ball forward without creating any change. what a stupid!
I don’t expect Inter will get point from big to
neither in UCL nor domestically…that’s our new reality thanks to our ownership and management
It’s Chivu not anyone else he far too weak minded to rallies the team to go all out and win. He did against Atletico Madrid but as soon as Inter equalised he default to factory setting and watched as Inter were playing for a draw despite being on top. He must learn by now that certain players will not give you cover when you need to hold on and that includes Bastoni, Dimarco, Bisseck, Zielinski and Susic. They’re just not meant to play that way especially against better teams so if you aren’t trying to win then you should expect to concede.
Some people complained about Inzagui… The team regressed considerably under that intern.Another big game that he can’t win.
Pure horseshit performance, we dont even deserve a point against this lousy liverpoool
if inter lose this, it’s chivu fault. keep saying need more dirty and direct play, but nothing changed
Bastoni played it dirty..
lol
lauti gets shoved out the pitch no foul but thats a pen??? the refs are paid off
The refs got instructions to keep the child murderers in the run. Mafia
I have said this many times on here…Bastoni fouls ALL the time and gets away with it like he’s Maldini or someone special. He is not. It’s a foul but not like the diving player made it out to be. Bastoni screwed his mates
Only watched the 2nd half and it was clear only liverpool were allowed to play aggressive today. Like they were home and not us. Really pathetic refereeing.
Inter deserved to lose. Liverpool were the better team out there. Inter have lost all the tough matches this season. Clearly there is some mental block there. Team needs better players.
Bloody soooft penalty
Football is dead…A pen for this is crazy
This is not a pen
We will win at anfield guys let’s move on forza inter
need a third striker deployed right how asap
out of subs. 2 injuries subs
dont say thats not a pen. it is. bastoni dissapointed us on this.
That was a childish penalty by Bastoni. Is this what Chivu’s team is supposed to be evolving? We haven’t been able to beat them at home, against the worst Liverpool in a long time. That’s why I’m not fooled by victories against a team like Como.
Yeah when you mess around you find out. Ref did help them but Bastoni was clumsy from the start of second half
basto wth did you do man
Total bullsh&t……favoring English teams all the time.
whether you like it or not, Bastoni is an idiot and this is on him.
I have to agree with you here. But that was the softest penalty ever. Why would you even risk it…
Just wow… I guess Inter deserves this result for being poor, but Liverpool didn’t do anything to deserve this
Lol… Daft league.. As I predicted, inter will most likely lose ALL THE GAMES against teams from bigger leagues..
You managed to contradict yourself twice with two comments. Unbelievable.
Definitely not a penalty for tk me though, but as expected, a serie a side failing to win versus a poor Liverpool side.
I mean, there’s a huge asterisk on this one… So you didn’t get it totally right lol
Scoreline says otherwise…
The asterisk being “would Liverpool win without that penalty”… You know what I mean
Well, try reversing the result then…
Was it a penalty or was it not? Is it a daft league with four teams in Europe? And finally, two CL final within 3 years, is that bad? Sleep well mate and remember to kiss or hug someone before you do.
reckless af……
THAT IS NOT A PEN!!! LMAO GET OUT
Come on that’s not a penalty refff
They’re checking for a penalty? What the hell… I know Bastoni pulled that dude’s shirt, but that was like 90% flop…
Wtf is bastoni doing – he’s been terrible recently
This is probably the worst game I’ve seen from two big teams in a while. This is just terrible from both sides…
Mikhy is already working overtime on the field. Has Chivu forgotten that he can still make changes to the team?
Liverpool seems more dangerous right now, I hope we won’t concede goal
This is honestly becoming unwatchable and pathetic.
Inter can’t play…
Are we gonna sub anyone on?!?!???
Yeah these guys looked gassed out. Thuram and Mhkitaryan can barely run.
like to see Bonny and Sucic
your wishes came true
we are lucky that they don’t have gakpo and salah.
they would kill us
Found the guy who hasn’t seen Liverpool once this season… There’s a reason they’re not playing.
Its like our players forget lauti isnt fast.
Meanwhile Lennart Karl scores again for bayern… Imagine if he was in modern day Italy.
Zielinski has been phenomenal
He should have started ahead of Miki
some here said he was done for… it goes to show
thuram is tired. sub him now
Thuram has been very quiet tonight…. I’d be getting Bonny on around now…..
Bonny is inter’s best player… But hey.. He’s too inexperienced to be used versus Liverpool according to the coach/expert…
bring in cambiasso
Serie a teams are usually exposed on Europe once they face teams in better leagues… If it was a serie a side I’m sure inter may have at least scored by now…
What does the fact that Liverpool, the team that spent over 460M Euros, cannot create much against a team from a league that doesn’t know how to play say about the Liverpool and the prem?
Well, Liverpool are poor now, yet inter are struggling against a team thrashed by PSV. Reflect on this Bruno..
Liverpool spent over 450M Euros this past transfer window.., You get no excuses for being poor if you spend that amount of money and buy players like Ekitike and Isak. You’ve criticized management for being daft for years. Imagine if Inter would’ve spent that money and played bad. You wouldn’t be giving them a pass, would you… Try again.
Well… The team Liverpool has been daft, and yes, I won’t give inter or serie a a pass.. The league has been daft for over a decade. It’s clear for all to see… Facts and results don’t lie…
True, the League has clearly decreased in quality since like 2008-09. However, it was in a worse shape a decade ago than it is now. You can at least admit that, can you? As you said, results don’t lie. The league has presence in European competitions now, something that barely happened 10-15 years ago. I know you’ll say Serie A hasn’t won the CL, but you know it’s better to have teams losing finals than it is to having no team in the knockout stages of European competitions. Can you admit that?
These guys can’t pass
They can’t play..
Yet, statistics prove you wrong. Funny how numbers work.
Please enlighten me on “your statistics”… I will give you mine.. No UCL title in 15 years..
Barella over complicating great opportunities yet again!!! He’s annoying me tonight!!
dumfries is missed
we can’t organize a proper attack and create an opportunity…
Kinda like watching you talk to girls in a bar…
Barella has been misplacing passes in the final third.
How many times do we miss the obvious pass??? Barella should have put Thuram clean through, but tries to be to clever with an impossible pass to Martinez….
and when nobody sees him open or misplaces a pass, he’s the first to throw his hands in the air to complain…
I don’t ever like to comment on other teams but this Liverpool team is a$$. They’re playing badly. We should be taking advantage of this.
Unless we’re also a$$ LOL
Inter playing too cautiously in the first half.
Totally agree. Inter play like a minnow when they are the more in form team at this time. Play like you have been to 2 of the last 3 CL Finals. Have some swagger
How was the first half? i completely missed it. smh
Not very good. But i would blame the ref for not going to his pocket.
What we say at first half, draw would be good result. Liverpool is in crisis but also Inter is in crisis when plays against big guns.
Today that needs to change. We need some simone grit. Come on Inter. Lets win this.
Anybody noticed after Acerbi Liverpool long balls goes nowhere because Inter actually have defenders that can run after that change. Prior to that they would skip the entire midfield with a single long ball
Sad to agree. Time to play the kid more often
For the bulk of the first half, I was thoroughly unimpressed…. way too passive, and showing Liverpool way too much respect! Then the disallowed goal seemed to wake us up, and Bisseck coming on- who should have started- meant that we could press higher up the pitch…. mutch better from that moment, and hopefully we can crack on in the second half! Bonny and Diouf running at this defence is what I’d like to see!!
Have you noticed our players are too afraid to take the ball and run in, but everytime they do they create really good chances?
This is spot on.
Right on bro
See when we attack liverpool dont have a reply with inzaghi lautaro would be cb
inter cannot just go round and round in the final third, need more shot on goal, and at least try to cross high or through pass to the middle, like what bisseck did
Diouf would actually do more of it because Henrique is far too scared and seems to go backwards at every opportunity he gets. The only concern is Bisseck also likes to get forward a lot
You’re right
this Liverpool isn’t a CL playoff material. they are so mediocre tbh
When Inter decided to actually attack Liverpool just didn’t have answers and they are low on morale after the disallowed goal.
Under Inzaghi we’d be defending for our lives. Chivu has made Inter into a team you can’t trust to press or else….
We will score in 2nd half
For once i’m with you on that one. Can we stop fighting me and you?
Sure man, no hard feelings. We both love Inter, let’s focus on supporting the team. ⚫
imo Bisseck added to our attacking ability
Luis Enrique has repaid the faith the manager has entrusted in him thus far in terms of keeping it simple and not over complicating things.
That is what killed so many players at Inter with great potential. Not taking risks which ends up costing the team because it risks that change the match both positively and negatively. But he’s not taking too much risks going forward trying to make something
The first half was very poor in creativity. It took a disallowed goal for them to improve somewhat. We’re playing against a Liverpool team in crisis.
Shoot outside the box plzzz stop with the cross cross cross
I couldn’t agree more bro
I’m enjoying this game 100%
where has Luis Enrique disappeared?
Your mom called him..
Hopefully that wakes us up!! We can press a bit higher now Acerbi is off also!
wow we have Maicon on the right flank lol
Bravo Bisseck
Lets see Paulo hating on that Ronaldo Chop LOL.
The shot that came after actually hit Virgil’s hand btw…
yep it so did
Bisseck Ronaldo hahahahaha
the angles they showed were sus af. there was 2 clear angles they did not show. anyways glad the right call was made
No goal
Why did that take so long???
Just to make things more dramatic lol
Cause the ref gang is “censored”
If this isn’t handle ball idk what is
This substitution could be a blessing in disguise (Be quiet Paulo!)- Bisseck should have started this match anyway!!
Thuram way way too causal with everything
Oh yeah. He needs to be the 46 min extra window sub. He can go applaud his brother. Still not over that. Sue me
Bisseck comes on….stands still and lets Kinsey have a free header!
It’s every f**king game!!!
Here’s Paulo with his scapegoating as per usual. The goal isn’t even going to stand, but that won’t stop Paulo who has some kind of issue with Bisseck. He had it with Perisic, Dumfries, Bonny (even though he never saw him play with an Inter shirt) and now it’s Bisseck.
guess Bisseck is living rent free in someone’s mind.
And Inzaghi…. bizarrely, the only player who gets a free pass is Frattesi??????
This is obviously not Como or Piza, we need to wake up to reality..
I hope this sends signal to our management to not keep signing old players. And Liverpool scored..
Well
What the hell is going on??
Not even 30 minutes have gone by and Inter has already made two subs… Not looking good.
This substitution could be a blessing in disguise (shut up Paulo!)- Bisseck should have started this match anyway!!
Acerbi injured
I thought Acerbi was rasing his hand for an offside. He actually got hurt.
I was like “wtf is this dude doing sliding in slow motion”…
Lautaro should have shoot out the box there… Smh
Thuram u have to shoot that.
So far the team hasn’t created anything. They just keep passing the ball sideways. And mind you, we’re playing at home.
Liverpool playing better football so far, we are clueless
Well.. serie a teams can’t play… No surprises here..
Bro, what game are you watching? Both teams have been pretty bland so far.
Where’s the high press and the vertical passing?? We’re showing Liverpool waaaay too much respect!!
this is not a matter of respect, they are just playing better perhaps because they are a better team..but we’ll see, may be these bums wearing black and blue shirts will wake up eventually…
Thuram what the hell…
if we keep playing like this, they will score. need more deadly passes and movement
wow ~El Toro~ destroyed that because he was in red color lol
Getting too much injury prone this dude.. Get well soon
Hakan is in trouble!
He’s off. Hopefully, Zielinski does a good job.
i don’t understand the hate toward Henrique, he is still better than dumfries was, remember first two years dumfries couldnt even cross or shoot, his dribbling was also bad, as Henrique we havent Really see him shoot the ball, maybe tonight. let’s see
Denzel is power. Check his stats and look at his attitude. Forza Inter
Have you seen Fratessi recently? If you would’ve said Zielinski or Sucic, I would agree, but Frattesi?
Ok guys. Stay possitive now and support our Inter. Time for another big win. Forza Inter.
LUIS HENRIQUE IS A FLOP!!!
yeah right
Let’s beat them i am unable to forget Alexis red card and those 1-0 and 0-1 Mancini Inter
who is Taho
Extra goalie from the youth
I would have preferred to see Frattesi start over Mhiki but let’s see how it plays out.
Acerbi and Miki both starting worries me, but here goes…C’mon boys!!! FORZA INTER!!!
we’re winning this tonight Forza Inter Milano
luiz Henrique starting in UCL. what a gamble
I like his movement so far. Thuram, Barella switch roles with him and Akanji has a no bullshit attitude behind him. Luckily Mhki is here.