Francesco Pio Esposito and Piotr Zielinski start as Udinese and Inter Milan go head-to-head at the Bluenergy Stadium this afternoon. with the Nerazzurri looking to avenge their early-season defeat and protect top spot in Serie A.
Kick-off is scheduled for 15:00 CET, as Inter continue a demanding run of fixtures just days before their Champions League clash with Arsenal.
After the narrow win over Lecce in midweek, Cristian Chivu has opted for rotation without compromising balance, trusting fresh legs while keeping key leaders on the pitch.
Udinese vs Inter – Chivu Rotates But Keeps Core Intact
As expected, Inter make several changes.
Yann Bisseck, Luis Henrique, Federico Dimarco, Piotr Zielinski and Lautaro Martinez all return to the starting XI.
In defence, Manuel Akanji keeps his place in the back three, joined by Bisseck and Carlos Augusto, with Alessandro Bastoni starting on the bench.
Gli 1️⃣1️⃣⚫🔵 in campo per #UdineseInter ⚔️
Forza ragazzi 💪@play_eFootball pic.twitter.com/KR3PuuMeds— Inter ⭐⭐ (@Inter) January 17, 2026
In midfield, Chivu hands Frattesi a rare start, with Nicolò Barella operating in the regista role. Henrikh Mkhitaryan gets the nod over Petar Sucic, while Davide Frattesi starts from the bench with one eye on Europe.
Up front, Lautaro partners Francesco Pio Esposito, who is rewarded for his decisive impact against Lecce.
Udinese Adjust After Early-Season Win Over Inter
Udinese line up in a compact 3-5-1-1 system under Kosta Runjaic.
With Nicolò Zaniolo suspended and Lorenzo Lucca unavailable, the Friulani reshuffle in attack. Arthur Atta supports Keinan Davis, while Kristensen returns in defence.
The hosts rely on physicality, structure and intensity, hoping to repeat the formula that brought success at San Siro in August.
Udinese vs Inter – Official Starting Lineups – Barella, Zielinski, Esposito & Dimarco Feature
UDINESE (4-4-2): Okoye; Kristensen, Kabasele, Solet, Kamara; Zanoli, Piotrowski, Karlstrom, Ekkelenkamp; Atta; Davis
Bench: Sava, Padelli, Nunziante, Goglichidze, Ehizibue, Kamara, Rui Modesto, Zarraga, Miller, Lovric, Camara, Gueye, Bayo.
Coach: Runjaic
Suspended: Zaniolo
Unavailable: Zemura, Buksa
INTER (3-5-2): Sommer; Bisseck, Akanji, Carlos Augusto; Luis Henrique, Zielinski, Barella, Mkhitaryan, Dimarco; Esposito, Lautaro.
Bench: Calligaris, Taho, Acerbi, De Vrij, Bastoni, Darmian, Cocchi, Bovo, Frattesi, Sucic, Diouf, Bonny, Thuram.
Coach: Cristian Chivu
Suspended: None
Unavailable: Di Gennaro, Palacios, Dumfries, Josep Martinez, Calhanoglu
Referee: Di Bello
Assistants: Bercigli, Zingarelli
Fourth official: Feliciani
VAR: Mazzoleni
AVAR: La Penna
Important 3 points especially with the fixtures coming up. Hopefully Thuram is all rested up for Arsenal and can bring his A game. Might have not been the best game but we did lose to Udinese at the start of the season.
Important win! Just want to say, Sommer may not be the best now, but he is still solid. The last two games, if not him, we might got draw or even worse.
Hopefully later today boogeyman called Sassuolo strikes again
On the day I couldn’t watch the match, hooray inter wins! Maybe I should quit. watching inter! I hope c.unte Napoli, ac blan, and rubentus lose
Yes please do, nobody wants you here anyways, clown.
Approved 🙂
Nice win, and we convincingly dominated the game.
Another awful match, even though we won. Inter Milan, under Chivu, is like that: they win against weaker teams playing poorly and can’t win the so-called big games. Given the level of the league, I believe in the title. Now, Champions League, I highly doubt it.
u must have enjoyed cunte at inter.. all his matches were the same level.. at least we are more creative and are scoring more freely. that said cunte had the best inter team since the treble.. good teams win! even when they play bad. take the win! historically we all know Jan and feb were the months we lost the plot. chivu is still winning. give credit where deserved !
Haha, I hated Conte at Inter. He’s a very limited coach and won the Serie A title by luck. In the Champions League, it was a disgrace. And you’re wrong. Our best coach after the treble, regardless of whether you like him or not, was Inzaghi, who reached two Champions League finals. Chivu is far from achieving that, and if it weren’t for the low level of Serie A, we wouldn’t even be in first place.
agree.. inzaghi was our best coach so far.. I agree.. don’t know why you say I’m wrong.. never said otherwise! inzaghi came to us after doing well with Lazio and winning a super cup. chivu comes with nothing. he’s got a long way to go.. but that doesn’t change the fact that even inzaghi could not stop inters winter slump. chivu seems to be doing a better job! grinding wins. these will only make him better.. so ya.. don’t judge chivu yet!
We are tired and it is expected in this time of the season. We play every 3-4 days in maybe 7-8 matches in a row. Good way to manage our energy and still keep winning. Not very entertaining but most important is we win for now.
We are playing every 3 days, they are playing once a week. We can’t realistically expect to win most games with spectacular performances. As far we are the first on the table, that’s what matters in the end.
Yeah it look like everyone was taking it easy not pushing themselves which was good as no one got injured, glad we got the 3 points.
Another narrow win but I’ll take it. I just wish management wasn’t so frugile, stingy, cheap whatever you wanna call it and got us one or two players this window to push to win the league: we are missing hakan for crucial ucl games Arsenal and dortmund will be extremely hard to get points and we can end up outside top 8 and have to play two extra games for the playoffs in the middle of winter that will take a toll on the players for the league push while Milan have no Europe games and Napoli will focus on the league more…
In the last 4 years we’ve only won the league once while Napoli have won twice and milan, and jube have yet to win.
we are going to face arsenal in tuesday, this kind of play will not good enough
these are the games that win you titles!!
it’s demoralising for napoli and Bilan to constantly watch us win
let them have their head to heads
Forza Inter Grande Chivu
Another 1-0 grind and another win. I bet some plastic fans are furious that we won again. Now time for another win in midweek.
Forza Inter
these are the games that win you titles!!
it’s demoralising for napoli and Bilan to constantly watch us win
let them have their head to heads
Forza Inter Forza Chivu
I hope Chivu is not doing an Inzaghi.Lol But 3 points are crucial
Woohoo, another win. Go go go. One more chance to run away.
Acerbi schooling these Youngsters lol
we’re almost in a panic mode against Udineze…
this is bad, we used to be conceded in final minutes
I guess we are doing the parma thing
W subs
fuckass referre
This ref man
How is that a yellow? cleanest tackle i have ever seen. what a joke of a ref. if he committed the foul it would’ve been red anyways u donkey
Ladies and gents – marco di bello. All rocchi dogs are being sent to our games.
bissek . what is inside his brain actually?
What?
What is the point in VAR?!?!
absolute joke
THAT WAS CLEAN WHAT?
Serie A refs strike again
another dimarco goal taken away
Well done lautaro just pverhit a bit
Why is this Solet guy is not with us is unbelievable..we’re deficient in this position and still did nothing to fill the void..
Solet is an incredibly strong defender
Our luck that Zaniolo is on suspension, it would’ve been a little harder game, of course still winnable. Their attack is cut-off
Next goals important lets get it!
Enrique needs to be moved to the left. idk why he loves cutting on to his left so much. isnt he was right footed.
He’s just not very good, better than sticking Diouf there, shame Darmian is crocked.
But moving him to the other side loses you’re best creator of chances in Dimarco
That there is exactly why it’s so annoying when people get on Lautaros case…
Henrique messed it up (obviously) but that was world class / effort from el toro
piotr has been beautiful to watch with the ball
Man i know that Mhiki does lions share in midfield and defensive assignments, but in attack he’s probably our worst player
He also sets up most of the opposition attacks himself like he just did
he does everything well for us except shoot
Or final pass
yea in the final third his mind breaks down between shooting and passing and he ends up messing up both lol
Haha in the corner they were trying to see where the ball was cuz the sunlight
just off the link up play Pio is way better than our backups last season.
Captain is mighty, pair him up front with anyone he’ll adjust
The moment Lautaro faked that shot and the defender was fooled it was already a goal or penalty and red card.Lol
happy he didn’t fall because do we trust VAR to do the right thing? I dont
let revenge this boyz
Since we can’t revenge big teams let’s revenge poor Udinese. 😛
Hope Lautaro and Pio score..
Forza Inter..
Lautaro scored and Pio assisted. 4 assists for Pio. 🙂
Hoping for the 3 points. Also hoping mkhi and barella has a better game in them than last time. Happy for an Esposito start, needs more minutes in him.
Nice. This is not heavy rotation what I was afraid.