Inter Milan vs Slavia Prague Predicted Lineups and Betting Tips - Champions League 2019/20
Inter Milan is set to host Czech League holders Slavia Prague at the San Siro in their Champions League opener in midweek as they look for a flying start to the 2019/20 campaign. Antonio Conte’s men will take this game as their final preparation for the upcoming derby against arch-rivals AC Milan on Sunday. The Italian will be happy that his side maintained their hundred per cent start to the season with a 1-0 win over Udinese. They would be hoping for something similar against Slavia, but this time with more goals.
They last met in the 2016/17 Europa League group stages. Both sides aim to qualify for latter rounds from the tough group containing German giants Borussia Dortmund and La Liga winners FC Barcelona. They failed to do so last time out, finishing third in the group stages and ultimately getting knocked out by Frankfurt in the Europa League. So an early win is what the Italian side now demands.
The visitors, on the other hand, are making only their second appearance in the competition, coming through the qualification playoffs. They are heading to this fixture at the back of an incredible run of 20 games unbeaten that stretches back to April. Coach Jindřich Trpišovský has tried to build a solid side that is ready to take challenges fearlessly as they have done before.
Last season, the Czech champions had a memorable campaign reaching the quarter-final stage of the Europa League by outsmarting title favourites Sevilla in the last 16. They also gave eventual champions Chelsea a scare in the two-legged quarter-final stage and Trpišovský will be hoping for a similar commitment from the Red and Whites in a far more intense competition.
According to the odds on BigPesa, the home side is the favourites to win the game at 1.34.
Inter Milan
Conte is expected to return to his familiar 3-5-2 formation after resting some stars, after the International break. Belgian star Romelu Lukaku will be once again leading the line. Lautaro Martinez is also expected to start after been given a rest, while new arrival Alexis Sanchez can also get a full-run after making his debut from the bench against Udinese.
Another star signing Diego Godin will pair with Milan Skriniar and De Vrij in an impressive back-line. Stefano Sensi, who’s been starring for club and country is also guaranteed to start the game after scoring the only goal in Inter’s win at the weekend. BigPesa suggests that there will be 2-3 goals in the game (1.96).
Slavia Prague
Trpišovský’s side defeated club Slovacko with ease in their domestic league to continue their impressive unbeaten streak but has some major injury concerns ahead of this tough fixture. Youngster Matěj Pulkrab will remain sidelined with a long term injury concern, which means the experienced Milan Skoda will remain in the starting lineup.
Vaclav Drchal, Borek Dockal and Vaclav Kadlec will all be out, which means Slavia have to depend upon Nicolae Stanciu and Vladimir Coufal to get something out of this game. Defender David Hovorka is making a comeback from injury and Ondřej Kolář is also ready to get his gloves tested, against a fiery attack force of Inter.
The number of goals in the match is most likely to be two with odds for that being 3.6. It would be interesting to see who scores those goals.
Predicted Lineups
Inter (3-5-2): Handanovic (GK), Godin, De Vrij, Skriniar, Candreva, Brozovic, Barella , Sensi, Sanchez ,Lukaku, Martinez
Slavia Prague (4-2-3-1): Kolar (GK), Coufal, Kudela, Hovorka, Boril, Kral, Soucek; Oladeji, Stanciu, Masopust, Skoda