Inter Milan are back in action at San Siro on Saturday afternoon, looking to bounce back from the derby defeat to AC Milan and consolidate their position at the top of Serie A against Atalanta, with Marcus Thuram and Denzel Dumfries both back in the XI.
The official starting lineups for Inter Milan vs Atalanta on Match Day 29 of the 2025/2026 Serie A season have been published.
Cristian Chivu names his side with two welcome returns in the Dutch wing-back and French striker.
However, there are three notable absentees as the Nerazzurri look to rediscover their rhythm at a critical point of the season.
I nostri 1️⃣1️⃣⚫🔵 in campo per #InterAtalanta ⚔️
Forza ragazzi 👊@play_eFootball pic.twitter.com/TsIJEIuLKk— Inter ⭐⭐ (@Inter) March 14, 2026
The match kicks off at 15:00 CET at San Siro in Milan.
Inter Milan Vs Atalanta – Dumfries Returns After Four Months As Bastoni Not Fit To Start
The headline selection news is the return of Denzel Dumfries to the starting lineup.
Indeed, his first start since November 9th, when Inter beat Lazio 2-0.
The Dutchman has been gradually building his fitness after a lengthy ankle injury, picking up minutes off the bench in recent weeks.
Therefore, Chivu now feels the time is right to hand him a full starting role.
His return on the right wing-back adds a significant attacking and defensive dimension that has been sorely missed.
Alessandro Bastoni, meanwhile, has failed to recover fully from the shin knock he sustained in a collision with Rabiot during the derby. Therefore, the Italy defender does not start this afternoon.
In campo così per #InterAtalanta 📝
Our starting XI to face Inter 📝#GoAtalantaGo ⚫🔵 pic.twitter.com/Av1yArLYJr
— Atalanta B.C. (@Atalanta_BC) March 14, 2026
Subsequently, Carlos Augusto steps across to the left centre-back position to fill the void.
The back three is completed by Akanji and Bisseck, who edges out Acerbi. The former Lazio man named among the substitutes despite being in contention for a starting berth.
Inter Milan Vs Atalanta – Thuram Returns Alongside Esposito As Sucic Edges Mkhitaryan
Up front, Marcus Thuram is back in the starting lineup alongside Pio Esposito after illness forced him to the bench for the Milan derby.
The Frenchman has not scored since Lautaro Martinez’s injury. He will be determined to end that drought against an Atalanta defence that arrives here with confidence dented.
Lautaro remains unavailable, though Bonny provides cover from the bench. In midfield, Zielinski continues as regista with Barella alongside him.
The second mezzala spot goes to Petar Sucic, who edges out Mkhitaryan, the Armenian veteran named on the bench and available to impact from the dugout.
Calhanoglu misses out entirely alongside Lautaro and Bastoni, meaning Chivu is without three key players simultaneously.
Inter Milan Vs Atalanta – Official Starting Lineups – Thuram & Dumfries Amongst Changes
INTER (3-5-2): 1 Sommer; 31 Bisseck, 25 Akanji, 30 Carlos Augusto; 2 Dumfries, 23 Barella, 7 Zielinski, 8 Sucic, 32 Dimarco; 94 Esposito, 9 Thuram.
Bench: 12 Di Gennaro, 13 J. Martinez, 6 De Vrij, 11 Luis Henrique, 14 Bonny, 15 Acerbi, 16 Frattesi, 17 Diouf, 22 Mkhitaryan, 36 Darmian, 53 Lavelli, 57 Kaczmarski, 95 Bastoni.
Coach: Chivu.
Suspended: none.
Unavailable: Lautaro, Calhanoglu, Bastoni.
ATALANTA (3-4-2-1): 29 Carnesecchi; 42 Scalvini, 19 Djimsiti, 23 Kolasinac; 77 Zappacosta, 15 De Roon, 8 Pasalic, 47 Bernasconi; 10 Samardzic, 59 Zalewski; 9 Scamacca.
Bench: 31 Rossi, 57 Sportiello, 3 Kossounou, 4 Hien, 5 Bakker, 6 Musah, 7 Sulemana, 13 Ederson, 16 Bellanova, 17 De Ketelaere, 69 Ahanor, 90 Krstović.
Coach: Palladino.
Suspended: none.
Unavailable: De Ketelaere, Raspadori.
Referee: Manganiello.
Assistants: Passero and L. Rossi.
Fourth official: Collu.
VAR: Gariglio.
Assistant VAR: Chiffi.
Why do such astonishing and undisguised controversial refereeing decisions occur? In fact, some clues can be found in the remarks made after the end of last season by several officials from the Serie A league and senior figures in the Italian Football Federation. They boasted that, while in many other European leagues the champion is often decided as early as April, in Serie A no team has been able to defend the title for five years, and the championship race is often decided only at the very last moment. According to them, this proves how “entertaining” Serie A is.
Perhaps this is why, after Inter built a large lead in the league standings, they began encountering various non-sporting factors interfering with their progress. Serie A is currently facing serious business difficulties: broadcasting rights are becoming harder to sell, and even the home stadiums of strong teams like Lazio are often half empty. The league desperately needs a dramatic title race to increase its revenue.
From the earlier malicious media hype targeting Bastoni to the series of unbelievable refereeing mistakes we are seeing now, it is quite clear that some people, in order to maintain this suspense in the title race, are willing to do whatever it takes.
But can suspense created in this way really save a declining Serie A? The fact that the Italian national team has failed to qualify for the World Cup finals for two consecutive tournaments already gives the answer.
Glad I didn’t watch the game, while at work. Milan will surpass inter and win the scudetto if we keep dropping points.
Mulan will slip tomorrow
Not tomorrow but against Juve and Napoli somehow people thinks those two teams will just roll over and let Milan win against them and risk millions invested and miss CL spots. Inter will drop more points but Milan will drop more because they like to defend deep with low margin scoreliine and now the refs will be extra careful
that’s exactly what they will do because it’s more important to them that Inter doesn’t win the scudetto
I think it could’ve been way worse because out of the remaining matches the match against Atalanta was the most difficult and better to have a wake up call now rather than continue to coast during matches. Como are highly over rated and Inter can win against them if they play decent. It’s not the same story for Milan. The alarming thing is CHIVU still believes Henrique is decent enough to play for Inter in key matches. because again he looks lost the team would expect a simple cross inside the box but he would get in dangerous position and he would decide to pass back or sideways as it’s not his responsibility to create or score. Dumfries was a constant threat from minute 1 to 96 and when Dimarco was out it basically means no outlet to hurt Atalanta when they over commit
I don’t know why our fans are not criticizing Oaktree as they were criticizing Suning continually even though Suning were winning us trophies it’s because Oaktree base in America?
+1
oaktree is not involved in the club at all.
Marotta should go if we lose the Scudetto race. He employed Chivu and spent 90 mln on Henrique, Diouf, Bonny and Sucic. None of them is up to the task this season.
Our owners and the management they are all not serious about the team if we lose a game or lose a trophy they don’t care.
We played poorly, didnt seem like we wanted to win and thats what we got. Where’s the relentless pressure, the desire to win the match? really poor, however that what also a clear penalty and it was shocking that there was no VAR check at least. We need the players to show that they want to win and play like that also in the remaining matches like their life depends on it, no thinking about not getting injured for world cups etc
Stop using the refs as an excuse.
If they bottle this from 10pts in front and gift Milan their second star it’s gonna be up there with the most embarrassing moments in the clubs history.
Far worse than losing 1 game 5-0 to PSG.
Honestly I’m sooooo angry with the players and how chivu “managed” this.
Too many of them are coasting and lacking effort, ball watching.
Lautaro was right after the club World Cup, if you don’t want to play for the shirt, leave!
Agree. Some of the players are working hard to gift Milan the 2nd star.
+1
Agree! If you dont want to play for the shirt, fcking leave!
He’s the first one who should leave and find another club suited for him.
Milan isnt going to drop points tomorrow now we are cut down to 5 point lead man i miss lautaro
I hope Inter unleashes the fury on the referees like Juve did when the Bastoni incident happened.
Problem is Chivu, he has no idea what he is doing, he really hasn’t done anything great or different to help this team, that’s why they chock against bigger teams. They beat Juve by luck and help of the Red Card. Otherwise chocked against all big clubs in CL and in Serie A
Chievu has put us in 1st place miraculously but if he bottles this scudetto from 10 points lead, then his lack of experience shows.
More than him, it is sad to see senior players collapsing like this year after year. A new manager cannot fix the trauma of these players.
To all: dont fight between. Thats what rube wants. So much bad ref and we still didnt lose. Magic inter. Forza Inter. Campeone d’Italia
Bad game. off all that happened. im so disappointed with Thuram’s game. No grinta. Lost possession and delaying the ball several times. It’s not Thuram we know last season. when Lautaro can play ?
Another Pazza moment.
Pazza Inter Amala. smh
Mafia. Forza Inter
Bonny, Thuram, Henrique, Mikhi,
What do you expect???
The subs Chivu made were horrific!
There’s no ambition, half the players just stand still they are a joke!
Put some effort in at least! Run, move do something!!
My acca survived because it was an obvious result but from leading and them not having look in first half you bottle it, this is mentality and Dumfries throwing him self to the floor wtf?!
Penalty? Maybe – soft, just manage the game better ffs
Mhki was good wdym
It’s no coincidence that we lost control of the game when he came on.
To be fair, Miki created 3 crucial chances of goal, Thuram missed once, didnt pass once and Bonny couldnt find him wide open. If this is what you say about lost control, that is buzzard. Really lost control is Pio left, Dimarco left and Barella left. Frattesi never works well to control the game. And today Zielinsky is a little bit off too. So definitely not Miki’s fault for this game. I agree that we need to get another player to replace Miki, but that doesnt mean he should take the blame for all the games.
No VAR check in the world would look at that and not give a penalty. It was a clear miss of the ball and hit Frattesi foot
Shut it. The ref is the problem. Watch some football and then speak again
I agree, horrible coaching decision, two weeks in a row.
Was Dimarco injuried? Why was he replaced with Henrique?
1. For the love of god I hope not
2. Actually maybe I do cos otherwise it means our manager thought that was a good idea
That was on Chivu he knows Henrique can’t cross to save his life yet he does the exact opposite and use him
It’s quite obvious the league is trying to fix the games and create a competitive race at the top. Joke of a league. other than that we played like shit once again. this mediocrity can’t continue
Where is the intensity this team had in the beginning of the season? We play so pedestrian, it’s astonishing.
They pretend they didn’t see the touch on Dumfries and then again pretend they didn’t see for Fratessi. Not even VAR check. But Idid say Chivu will have a brain fart and sub in Henrique
Was this Henrique’s fault?
Worst player of the season other than Acerbi in important matches when results are not secure you don’t use him. How many times in this match he gets in dangerous position and he decides to go back
chivu think henrique is kvara.
thuram is suck. sommer is suck. this -2 lose point provided by chivu. wtf he doing experimental sub. rookie coach
welcome to the mafia league
I dont have any problem with conceding goal, since it was truly light contact. But for the no call on penalty, is fcking corruption. I bet no Italian media will call anything on that!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Fcking Italian football, no wonder cant even getting into the world cup. Get better from the refs!!!
Cheap coach and cheap mercato. This is what you get.
Oaktree will be our undoing.
Bruno said bye bye Scudetto. I say too. Bye bye Scudetto. In history if Inter lost both Milan derbies never won Scudetto. Sorry, we had good run, now we have tough matches we’ll drop more points.
If they win the Scudetto, for them the season’s highlight will be the 2nd star, ours the double defeat to Bodo. lol
fuk corrupt Italian football, they deserve to miss the world cup
Inter CAN NOT PLAY…..
whoever is now lamenting over referee’s calls, do not forget that we have played this game badly (but also a number of previous ones), this is not football that we are playing, but anti-football
inter in panic mode is very bad. hopeless
We need some fighters not whiners.
Indeed.
Feels like we’re judged on different rules than others
Fcking corruption Italian football. Commentator even cant understand why it was not a penalty. It was clear contact, wtf is going on with Italian football???? Fck this sht.
This is just clear robbery Lol
This feels like payback for that Juve game. What a bunch of BS!!
NOT EVEN A CHECK????
obvious pen… what is going on?
This should be Pen!!! Damn ref
I think it’s a foul but either way another mediocre game from the team. So tiring. Giving up the league
Wow
Of course. If we draw this is first step of losing the Scudetto.
If lautaro did that it would be a foul.
if the goals turns out to stand, it’s all on Chivu, we may lose the scudetto
Well, kind of a pay for the chances we wasted. So let’s see if we can get back for the win. Chivu needs to work on the team mentality.
well, he lost the temper first. lol.
How is that not a foul
Yup ofc
Henrique should be a left winger. Not a defender. The way he carries the ball and find passes in tight spaces is amazing.
Without Lautaro we don’t have an attack, only occasional goals.
I didn’t expect the game to be so early this weekend.
Henrique for Dimarco is surprising.
Sucic has been a big disappointment this season; I expected a lot from him. The talent is there though and next season he might finally start to deliver.
Just remember a lot of our best players now didn’t have a good first season with us.
Smh we’re F’d
Barella and Carlos best today so far.
Anyone counts how many mis-plays by Akanji today? So many dangerous risky clearance. I dont know if Inter should buy out him.
Too late, we’re going to sign him for sure
yes very worried play by akanji. no surprises he didnt starting in manchester city
thuram delay ball again
I’m very worried.
Omg these subs wtf?!
Thuram and Bonny together and Henrique on this is gonna haunt us
thuram always losing ball
why are we letting them play? And for how much loner are we gonna be watching Henrique on the pitch? Hopefully, not beyond next summer…
We need to score to seal this game
Why taking off Esposito not Thuram? and you took Sucic off because of a yellow card so, when he would be able to feel the pressure?
Dude, have you watched the game? Sucic is really below bar today, not just because of the yellow card. But I agree with the Esposito one.
Barella is really putting some energy today. Well done!!!!!!
Then u put thuram and bonny together ugh
Why cant we score?
Miki is playing well today,
Do we not practice 1v1’s?
So top 10 in Serie A for successful dribble, 1st is 120, and 10th is 60 something, but no Inter players.
Marcus ffs what more do you need to score? Empty goal?
Thuram man
unbelievable
Bisseck is having himself a game lol he’s our highest rated player right now
Two runs already. He probably wants to score.
Great defensive play by Augusto
Good try thuram
Thuram not pass to Miki is a criminal move……. WTF was he thinking?
Hopefully Inter transition into a 3-4-2-1 with some creative and aggressive players behind striker. This midfield is instilled with Inzaghi-ball from side to side and backwards.
Man, did I mention the first sub off is Sucic and by Miki????????? LOL.
So far – so good. Forza Inter
1-1…. Immature from Dumfries…
seeing Dumfries moving without the ball just shows how compromised we were playing with Henrique
I’m so glad having Denzel back
Beside defensive midfielder we really need a playmaker who can send ball between defenders, not just sideways. How much more dangerous is now our right side with Dumfries
We need nico paz
If Inter plays the same as first half Inter are 100% not getting the 3 points. Since Inter just goes forward and then decides to go back instead of trying to score. It also goes without saying that if Chivu has a brain fart and decides ti switch to Henrique when the match isn’t won it’ll be a disaster Darmian even half fit will be a much better defensive option when Dumfries is tired
Enrique usually only comes on when we need a goal not protecting a lead.
Well… I guess you are right…
You were so right. Sorry.
One more goal for safety. Or 1:0 is enough. I want 3 points. 😛
In general, a game puts audience to sleep so far for the first half. But I guess team needs some slow pace winning game. Hope we can get more goals in the second.
Bisseck might be messi
Sucic is mediocre, at best
He is not great but probably better than mikhi
not in this game….. His performance so far will make him the first sub off player. Probably by Miki.
His first instinct when he gets the ball is where can I pass sideways and back even when he’s near the opponents box when a dangerous pass can result into a goal he chooses to pass to defenders and let them handle with the pressure. The worst thing is he does this when Inter are winning by 1 or 2 goals or even when Inter are losing and needs to score in the 95th minute he will go back and sideways forgetting that he has more skills to deliver the final pass than defenders.
Pio Pio Pio Pioooooooooooo.
It is good that they are shooting, this has been recently missing a lot.
Dumfries was also missing….
That was a little bit selfish play by Dimarco. But hey, at least we are creating more pressure in the front and got chances. Keep it up!!!!
Inter clearly missed Dumfries who is aggressive in attack and finally Barella hard work pay off. Much better attitude and he’s not afraid to shoot
Im liking this peformance from barella his attitude whenever lautaro is gone should be like this
Pio !!!
Please no VAR
Hey I just mentioned Pio is a little bit off…. LOL damn good shot!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
susic somehow thinks Inter will win the match by constantly passing backwards and sideways
Sucic (Sučić). Susic (Safet Sušić) was footballer from Yugoslavia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. 🙂
Slow, predictable, no movement, sideways, backwards bla bla bla
We are a really difficult watch.
Ever time someone gets the ball they immediately stop and wait, as soon as they get the ball they are looking to go on the attack,
Why?! What is the messaging from the coach?
Pio looks a little bit off today. Hope he can get the feel back soon.
Nope he looks terrible to be fair nothing sticks for 20+ minutes players are avoiding passing to him unless there’s no other option
Great behaviour change from Barella instead of moaning. He claps for his teammates someone clearly had the talk with him. As a captain he should be motivating his teammates and not otherwise
If we want Scudetto, this match must win.
Forza Inter
let win this. pazza inter amala
Welcome back to the starting Dumfries…
Forza Inter…!!!