Cristian Chivu has named his Inter Milan side for tonight’s Serie A clash at Lecce, with Davide Frattesi returning to the starting lineup after illness and Marcus Thuram partnering Francesco Pio Esposito up front in the absence of injured captain Lautaro Martinez.
The official lineups for tonight’s Serie A Match, which kicks off at 18:00 CET in Salento, have been published.
Inter currently sit seven points clear of second-placed rivals AC Milan and will look to extend their lead at the top of Serie A this weekend.
However, they will have to push on without their captain and star player, with Lautaro set to miss around a month of football.
Lecce Vs Inter Milan – Frattesi Back In Inter Midfield
Frattesi missed the Champions League defeat in Bodo due to gastroenteritis and a fever but has recovered in time to start alongside Zielinski and Sucic in a reshuffled midfield.
With Barella and Calhanoglu both suspended, Zielinski takes on the crucial deep-lying playmaker role.
Oggi in campo così 🏃♂️1⃣1⃣@play_eFootball pic.twitter.com/cOt11edP8x
— Inter ⭐⭐ (@Inter) February 21, 2026
The Polish international is the only recognised regista available to Chivu tonight and will be key to Inter’s build-up play.
Lecce Vs Inter Milan – Thuram & Esposito Fill Lautaro’s Boots
The major talking point is up front, where Thuram and Pio Esposito lead the line together.
Lautaro faces around four weeks out with a soleus muscle complaint.
Indeed, the young Italian gets another opportunity to prove he can carry the burden of the Nerazzurri attack.
Thuram, meanwhile, returns to the starting XI after being rested in Norway.
Bisseck, Dimarco and Luis Henrique also return from the off, with Bisseck and Stefan de Vrij completing the back three alongside Bastoni.
Lecce Vs Inter Milan – Official Starting Lineups – Frattesi & Thuram Start
LECCE (4-2-3-1): Falcone; Veiga, Gaspar, Tiago Gabriel, Gallo; Ramadani, Coulibaly; Pierotti, Gandelman, Sottil; Cheddira.
Bench: Früchtl, Samooja, Jean, Siebert, Ndaba, Perez, Fofana, Helgason, Marchwinski, Ngom, Sala, N’Dri, Stulic.
Coach: Di Francesco.
Suspended: none.
Unavailable: Berisha, Camarda.
INTER (3-5-2): Sommer; Bisseck, de Vrji, Bastoni; Luis Henrique, Frattesi, Zielinski, Sucic, Dimarco; Esposito, Thuram.
Bench: Martinez, Di Gennaro, Acerbi, Akanji, Darmian, Cocchi, Kaczmarski, Mkhitaryan, Diouf, Topalovic, Bonny.
Coach: Chivu.
Suspended: Barella (1), Calhanoglu (1).
Unavailable: Dumfries, Lautaro, Calhanoglu.
Referee: Manganiello.
Assistants: M. Rossi and Dei Giudici.
Fourth official: Dionisi.
VAR: Paterna.
Assistant VAR: Aureliano.
Shout out for Miki! Not easy for a veteran. Demarco another 2 assists? Insane!!! We can see the impact without Lauti. I dont know what happen to Thuram, he always looks so tired and I am so confused with that. He didnt play as much as last year, unless this one year old got him really bad. But anyway, great win! Now finger cross for the Tuesday match!!!
Very happy with this win it was very important after our loss last ucl game.
I want the league title at all cost this season we need the scudetto since it’s been 4 years since we won and gave away two.
Let’s get the scudetto and have title number 21 and keep bilan at 19 with one star LOL
Didn’t we won our 2nd star in 2024? :O
devrij>>acerbi. I think we should let acerbi go this yr but retain devrij for mentoring
I agree. Hope the management knows this
De Vrij should be kept as Akanji’s backup for the center of defense.
Acerbi can be a coach next year
agree.. though if inzaghi offers us some money for acerbi.. wouldn’t refuse.. 😉
Now you use emoticon. 😉
emoji time 😉 🙂 😐
totally with you with this.. the only obstacle is devrij salary that is relatively high for backup player, I think if the player wants to stay he should agree to lower his salary. But If not, I think management will prioritise his salary to other signing. Konate maybe?
more gaps from the top!
He’s not stubborn like You-know-who Lol. I feel tho he might start Acerbi against Bodo just to make sure Inter are out of the CL (which is fine). But a 2-0 win and going out on penalties is much more respectful I guess. But if goes with a guarantee loss then Acerbi start and CL gets their fairly tale story which isn’t nice to be on the villain end of those. They can always go out on the next round against Man City
mhiki knew he was going to about today..lol. he had 4 shots on goal! only one target.. the one that mattered.
*score
Chivu is great with subs…!!!
Frattesi played his heart out the more the match went on.The one thing Barella wouldn’t do is defend but Frattesi would actually defend like his team depend on him to stop an opposition from scoring. This match wasn’t easy at all
saying barella does not contribute in defence in blasphemy! this year, his head is not in place.. off the field issues taking his attention! he needs some time off to regain focus.
Frattesi has always been a high-effort player. I think it’s his tactical discipline that has kept him on the bench. He has a tendency to chase ahead rather than participate in the midfield build-up. Some games that can mean scoring goals but coaches, especially in Italy, won’t excuse losing the “balance” of the game.
I think we need a more vertical approach sometimes and I’m surprised Chivu hasn’t utilized him more because he wants to play much more vertically than Inzaghi ever did.
Well it’s because of something that happened before Chivu even arrived. He was the player more likely to leave but ended up staying but to me he’s ahead of Diouf and Susic in the starting line up the guy knows serie a and score big goals. PLUS he defends way better than other midfields that Inter have except Hakan
love it fratessi fighting spirit
can’t believe I’m saying this, but in current form fratessi needs to start over barella
I agree with you why doesn’t he play he has played better than Barella all year
maybe with more playing time, he might finally be mhikis heir
Yes they look good vs trash teams
ya, merdentinus, bilan, cuntpoli can’t even win regularly against those same crappy teams.. just saying
Like Juve
super subs!
who doubts them?
Woooooohoooooooooo, another Dimarco assist. 😀 15 (according to Lega Calcio). Breaking record of Luis Alberto. 😉
No, record is Papu Gomez. 16. Dimarco have enough time to break his record. Only 1 to tie and 2 to win it. 🙂
diouf 15 minutes play better than 60 minutes henriquez
0 – 2 forza inter
Dimarco is hands down the best Inter player this season with argument whatsoever. He didn’t get to score in this match by pure luck from Lecce yet he got assists
who said chivu got the subs wrong? they both scored
akanji !!!!!
akanji!!
It’s 2
zielinski might be the motm
correction. our super assister dimarco will be the motm.
Akanji!!!
Unlucky Dimarco. Hope won’t cost us.
no.. dimarco
crazy missess from dimarco
dimarcooooo
Dimarco loool
Mikhi for all people 10 points lead we are winning this one after all
YES MIKIII…!!!
It must be raining frogs tonight if Mhiki scored 😀
Mkhiiiiiiiiiiii. Wait, is it offside again? 😛
no
Bro how do you get to use emojis? Mine doesn’t seem to work
I don’t use emojis but old hotkeys from MSN Messenger emoticons like : ) : D : P ; ) (witout spaces).
Ohhh lol
mikhi always wants to shot. why? this is the answer! LoL
sory mikhi. you saved us
MIKHIIIII TARYIAN
Damn Mikhi scored and it wasn’t blasted over. A great goal
Lol Mikhi??? Good goal tho
why miki always want to shot? just pass the ball
only frattesi offers nothing, now
if u shoot again mkhi, i swear to god
nevermind
😀
Taking off Thuram wasn’t the best thing to do right now but oh well. I guess it’s a draw waiting on the cards or maybe Lecce surprises us.
What are you talking about? After Frattesi the worst player tonight for sure, once again poor performance from him.
Why the hell does chivu keep insisting on playing thuram when all he does is jogging and not doing anything else
i say again. thuram is suck. need bonny
thuram canceled our counter attack
Looks like we won’t score tonight. Damn midweek Bodo/Glimt match. At least don’t lose.
Bonny>Thuram, Diouf>Henrique, Topalovic>worst player on the pitch Frattesi
fratessi worst player on d pitch? were u watching the same match? henrique unfortunately was the worst. fratessi was actually fighting for every ball. I think if he gets 3-4matches in a row, he might actually get his mojo back, aka zielinski.
You need to attack and speed the game up – so you bring on a 37yr old and take off the only guy who looks like he can defend
We are going to lose this game chasing it
The offside rule has to be amended. There is no decisive way to determine “when the ball is played” and it leaves a big question when the margin can be as small as an inch of a shoulder. It ruins the moment of celebration for so many goals and I’m not convinced it can be determined objectively.
That said, our interplay in the attacking third has been very disjointed.
I said long time ago, I hate this offside rule. Would be nice if they remove it and we’d see many goals per match.
lucky fillipo inzaghi not play in this era, or else he wont score any goal…
This is the first time I disagree with the subs Chivu made but then again he’s a master at it so who knows
we need more attackers
Juve lost 2 -0 vs como. Let’s show them who’s bossing serie a.
Remember Allegri’s words, maybe Inter drop points…
Esposito needs to be subbed for Bonny
Too bad no goal from Dimarco. This will damage the match.
There are No words
Mr Thuram!!!!
Dimarco 6:14. Oh no, hope not cancelled.
Nice Dimash!!!
Dimarcoooooooo.
Why Susic is just so indecisive. Inside opponents box he can do tricks and everything but never the end product same with delivering cross or final pass. Yes he does have more finishing chance than Mikhi but he’s getting useless
if you check in fotmob. fratessi have the lowest rating. atleast sucic know to distribute ball.
Such a poor finishing in the 1st half.
Almost no threats to their GK.
Come on come on!
We miss Lautaro. He is killer against low table teams. Dimarco had very nice chance to get another assist. I hope we win another match against low table side. We need to keep distance from Milan before we meet Milan, Atalanta, Roma, Como…
Everytime we run to their goal there’s 3 players for every 1 of ours, why aren’t we putting more people forward
The crosses are just from a single player. DImarco because Henrique only believes in cut backs instead of direct cross in dangerous position. Darmian or just anyone will deliver and threaten more. Plus Thuram doesn’t look like he wants to score
Our Right side is actually looking better than the left today.
thuram is suck
henrique please learn the crosses from dima
honestly, henrique has not been bad this game.
He has been decent.. I completely agree
Thuram literally zero effort
At least Bonny tries
Serie A refs fall for any player falling to the ground
bonnie is better than thuram now. but, I think, if someone will have to be substituted, bonnie is better to substitute thuram.
frattesi needs to get involved in goals
Frattesi needs to do that more. Run with the damn ball.
good run from frattesi
Thuram is just so sad to watch now. Damn
Thuram….that shot was ass
thuram was offside, but he couldn’t miss such a chance.
Thuram ffs jus header it
Our players have a serious problem playing till the whistle
bisseck need improve his game. or sell in the summer
then who’ll be substituting him?
I hope we win with clean sheet.
How is that a yellow card?? Crazy
Henrique! almost!
Sigh.. Today, they’ll likely flex their muscles cause this is serie a and not UCL…
Honestly glad sucic is getting more playing time, he might have some stinkers but he needs it. Rather have diouf than frattesi cuz we need a dribbler against low block teams, but hopefully he does good. Glad with the rotation, we need it for tuesday
I hope fratessi got his goal tonight.
Good luck boys!!!! No matter what, Forza Inter!
gotta win this one and put more pressure on acm and napoli
Actually mostly on board with this X1
Always worried when I see Bisseck in the back 3 so I would have put Darmian at RCB especially considering his outing the other day. Dependable AF.
But the main point is THURAM you need to show up!
Well at least no Acerbi. At least with Bisseck he adds some threat going forward and has some pace to defend counter attacks. The match should not be taken lightly because it’s a must win compared to the second leg against Bodo. I’m hoping Fratessi and Diouf to make the difference hopefully in a positive way