Inter Milan coach Cristian Chivu has decided to start Lautaro Martínez and Francesco Pio Esposito against Cremonese in Matchday 23 of the 2025/2026 Serie A season.
The official lineups for tonight’s Serie A match, which kicks off at 18:00 CET in Cremona, have been published.
Inter Milan look to continue their impressive run of form after a midweek win over Borussia Dortmund saw them qualify for the Champions League play-offs.
This evening, the Nerazzurri face a must-win contest, after Napoli won yesterday to move temporarily six points behind Inter.
Cristian Chivu is without a number of players, as Nicolo Barella, Hakan Calhanoglu and Denzel Dumfries continue to sit out through injury.
Therefore, the 45-year-old had to change his starting lineup tonight.
Cremonese Inter Milan – Chivu & Bastoni Return To The Starting XI As Chivu Trusts Lautaro & Pio Esposito
Alessandro Bastoni returns to Chivu’s starting eleven after being benched to start with in the Champions League win over Dortmund.
Bastoni came on as a second half substitute but the Italian starts today, alongside Manuel Akanji and Yann Bisseck.
This is quickly becoming Chivu’s defence of choice, as Acerbi and De Vrij continue to slip down the pecking order.
Meanwhile, in attack, Lautaro Martínez and Francesco Pio Esposito are given the nod by Chivu.
In the win against Dortmund, Chivu started Marcus Thuram and Ange-Yoan Bonny, leading many to speculate the Romanian would continue with his Lautaro & Pio Esposito partnership domestically.
Davide Frattesi also returns to the starting lineup, putting an end to the transfer speculation linking him with Nottingham Forest.
Cremonese vs Inter Milan – Chivu Trusts Luis Henrique On The Right
Inter’s right flank continues to be a hot topic for debate.
Denzel Dumfries is still not recovered from the injury that has left him sidelined, whilst Premier League club Liverpool have expressed an interest in a deal for the Dutchman over the past couple of days.
Ci siamo, tocca a noi 🖤💙@play_eFootball pic.twitter.com/4yGrO6OJ1J
— Inter ⭐⭐ (@Inter) February 1, 2026
Inter were strongly linked with a return for Croatian winger Ivan Perisic.
However, PSV put up a strong defence and look likely to keep hold of the veteran.
Luis Henrique had been linked away from Inter as a result of the Perisic rumours, with Bournemouth and Besiktas interested.
However, the Nerazzurri’s inability to source a replacement has led them to keep Henrique, for now.
The Brazilian starts again today on the right-hand side.
Cremonese Vs Inter Milan – Official Starting Lineups: Luis Henrique, Bastoni & Pio Esposito Start
CREMONESE (3-5-2): Audero; Terracciano, Baschirotto, Folino; Ceccherini, Zerbin, Grassi, Maleh, Pezzella; Bonazzoli, Vardy.
Bench: Silvestri, Nava, Mussolini, Bianchetti, Faye, Johnsen, Djuric.
Coach: Nicola
Suspended: Barbieri (1).
Unavailable: Collocolo, Bondo, Payero, Sanabria, Moumbagna.
INTER (3-5-2): Sommer; Akanji, Bisseck, Bastoni; Luis Henrique, Frattesi, Zielinski, Sucic, Dimarco; Pio Esposito, Lautaro
Bench: Martinez, Di Gennaro, Acerbi, De Vrij, Darmian, Cocchi, Bovo, Kamaté, Diouf, Bonny, Thuram.
Coach: Chivu.
Suspended: none.
Unavailable: Carlos Augusto, Dumfries, Calhanoglu, Barella.
Referee: Massa
Assistants: Peretti & Laudato
Fourth official: Tremolada
VAR: Manni
Assistant VAR: Fabbri
Ok I’m happy we didn’t concede any goals. E sene vaaaa la capolista sene vaaa
diouf is like fratessi, the good lord knows what position to play them in, but he comes in scores a goal, and then goes back on the bench. when he starts its like we are playing with a man less..
Good teams win against smaller teams, great players help win in big matches. we have a great team, we really need great players.
Overall performance was decent. It was more of match management from Inter than anything else. I saw almost nothing to criticize except Miki and Diouf not being up to the standard that the team was playing at.
Important win with clean sheet. Hope Bologna does us favor and we run more in table before Juve match.
This match shows why inter struggles versus bigger teams.. This game could have easily been 2-2 if cremonese has better quality.. Inter’s defence has lots of room for improvement…
cremonese is the only team that beat milan this season
You mean Bisseck needs more focus
Really hope Bonny and Thuram dont start together mid week.
Chivu thought he was playing he kicked the ball high!
Diouf has left a lot to be desired… He really needs to improve his first touch and awareness
Haven´t really got the chance so far.
3rd goal please… Wake tf up.
did anyone else just watch thuram watch the ball that was passed to him and not even try to go towards it?
Mf is lazy
I don’t know how you guys feel comfortable disrespecting Thuram who is literally the glue to that front two smh
Who’s disrespecting him? I just noticed he didn’t even attempt to get a ball that was passed to him and just watched it… and almost led to a creaminess goal
I was responding the comment below you tho
Yes, french injection, he has got ideas in attack.
Now give Bovo or Kamate a chance in the last 10, 15 minutes
Midfield has gone to sleep, maybe try try with a french injektion?
Holy take me bacl to the first half im sleeping in this one
We’re near new win. 18th. 🙂
never thought id be happy to see darmian back
The versatile handyman is always welcome back
This kinda feels like tje genoa game a bit the 1-2
I need a third goal. 2 are not enough for me.
I wanted third goal too, but then I said better not to score Cremonese to keep clean sheet. 🙂
Of course there has to be some imbecile to disrupt even if things are going well
Yes, bloody idiots should be banned from entering.
Foolishness, type of stupidity that can derail a season and create a distraction.
Our own fans have potentially just cost us this title…there is going to be huge ramifications from this
Was ghat like a firework or flare hit on him?
We are making it look easy go inter
We need the 3rd goal, I don’t feel comfortable with 0-2. We might concede in last minute one or two goals because we’re good at sc**wing up at some matches.
Bro, the only game against “weak” opposition that we’ve lost was against Udinese, and both goals came in the first half. It’s not like Inter threw away the match in the last minute.
I swear, some of you guys will simply say anything to paint Inter in a bad light. Reality is way different than how you all paint it.
Sucic’s weight is approximately 35-40 kg
No. Massa judgement is wrong. They fouled him too many times and still avoid a yellow. Typical for that toilet ref
As I suspected, no one will come in this transfer window. They were just trying to fool the fans into thinking they were trying something, lol. It was obvious that Marotta would show up, saying he wasn’t desperate, that there weren’t any big opportunities, and that he was happy with the squad. When in reality, they weren’t competent enough to bring anyone in. Typical of this management.
agree 100% with you.
Exactly
I’d rather no one than panic buys tbf.
not to mention the money they saved from Inzaghi’s salaries etc.
i like marotta reaction to piotr goal lol
Pio acting like ballerina…
Oh my god we are 2 up, and u been giving the most useless critiques the whole time
there is no justification for this kind of behavior. He’s too young and should first learn how to be a good player, before all those dirty tricks!
While yes he does go down a lot… you posted this when he got clobbered in the jaw
LMAO
Let this clown stay negative. That’s all he (and a lot of other “experts” on this site) can do.
Come play football with me and i’ll advice you to try and stay on your feet. Though i doubt you’ll manage. Rubentina
I think you haven’t seen Thuram play lately at least Pio has some shot power Thuram shot power is 10 out of 100. So weak
Its better for you to keep your negativity to yourself. Bub. Go watch your rube.
Another Lautaro goal, another Dimarco assist. Now Luis Henrique with assist. Wonderful goal from Zielinski. Forza Inter.
Bravo Piotr!!!
On another note, i don’t get how Frattesi is even a midfielder? Defensive play is horrible, contact with the ball is always awkward, crossing is also below average
Zielinski is cooking this season
Have you seen Barella play recently he has been terrible defensively and bad and finishing open chances. He’s mush more physical and disrupting attacks than Barella and I’m glad he’s playing because I think Inter are defensively safe with anyone other than Barella
Yes, i’ve seen every game this season, even though Barella is playing a little worse this season than in earlier seasons, on average he’s still amongst our best 3 rated midfielders this season. Even statistically this is not his worst season with 6 goal contributions.
Sucic is not playing good
Sucic has been playing fine…?
Commentator says Sucic was the best play on the pitch. 🙂
This is the player i was excited about getting last summer.
Zielinski only scores bangers like that !!! Henrique is on Dumfries mode today. kinda like it
Oh my god what a strike by Zielinksi.
at least henrique got an assist
haha, true, with another backward pass 🙂
Ok that’s pushing it. Barely backwards
The guy just decided to kill the match. No nonsense
DAAAAAMN
Next goals important
if frattesi let that ball go, pio might score
how did we let them create this counterattack?!
Bloody hell, 95% of Henrique’s passing is backwards.
what is interesting is that many fans on this forum are delighted at his performances
Thank you Sommer
Have to be honest, both Zielinski and Bisseck are giving positive impressions this season, difference between day and night compared to last season.
AGREED! zielinski especially
He finally takes a man 1v1…Beats him And still passes backwards
henrique did something brazilian, gotta keep doing that and he’ll be a mainstay
Top inter scorer Roberto Boninsegna 171 goals
Lautaro Martnez 169 goals
170.
Dimarco left foot is top 3 things itw right now
Doing well
LAUTI!!
The Captain!
everyone has been playing great so far, hopefully they can keep this up and get a goal
Our Brazilian is broken.
anyone streaming?
Roberto Boninsegna 171 total goals
L. Martinez 169
170.
hesgoal is streaming
henrique keep getting the ball backward, is he know where the opponent goal?
Good luck boys!!!!!!!!!
Chivu has guts, unlike many serie a coaches… I just hope we have a good Mercato, as it seems he (Chivu) is quite good when it comes to player management…
So Frattesi will definitely stay. I hope Chivu manages to unleash him like Zielinski.
Right side of the pitch will be useless.
Right side be chillin today 🙂
Let’s keep continuity against non-rivals. Forza Inter.
forza inter!!!