Spanish Champions, Real Madrid will be seeking a first Champions League victory when they play host to Inter Milan at the Alfredo Di Stefano Stadium on Tuesday night.
Inter Milan who trailed Juventus by one point last season in the Serie A, under Antonio Conte will seek to upset the Spanish giants away from home.
Zinedine Zidane’s men have only picked up a point from their games against Shakhtar Donetsk and Borussia Monchengladbach. Thus, put them at the bottom of group B, while Inter have drawn their two games to occupy third.
Los Blancos will go into the game with their heads up after a four-game winless run in the Champions League, having also lost twice to Manchester City in the last-16 stage of last season’s competition.
A win for Real Madrid in the game against Shakhtar Donestk, would have seen the Spanish side open their UCL campaign confidently, however, they suffered a 3-2 to the Ukrainian side on October 21, despite the fact that the visitors were without a number of key players due to a coronavirus outbreak.
Los Blancos had found themselves 2-0 behind away to Gladbach in their second game last week but managed to secure a point late on courtesy of goals from Karim Benzema and Casemiro.
Zinedine Zidane can finally call upon his lethal attack with Karim Benzema, Eden Hazard and Marco Asensio all available.
However, the Frenchman may have a tough time with his back four with Dani Carvajal, Álvaro Odriozola, Nacho and Éder Militão all out.
Lucas Vázquez trained on Monday and has been included in the squad giving Zidane an option at right back, where otherwise left back Ferland Mendy will be called upon to fill in.
Coming into tonight’s game off the back of a 4 – 1 victory over Huesca on Saturday, Real Madrid would fancy the chance against the Nerrazzuri to pick the all important Three points.
Inter, who reached last season’s Europa League final, could not secure a healthy point in their last two fixtures in the competition. They were held to a 2-2 draw by Gladbach on October 21 before playing out a goalless draw with Shaktar last week.
As usual, we could expect yet another underdog surprises in the UCL this season owing to the performance of these big guns in group B.
Romelu Lukaku’s fitness looks in doubt for the tonight’s encounter. The Belgium all time top scorer’s absence will be felt against a shaky Madrid back line.
In a 2-2 draw against Parma, the former Manchester United striker was ruled out with a muscle strain and replaced by Ivan Perisic, with the Croatian likely to partner Lautaro in Madrid.
However, the duo of Alexis Sánchez and Milan Skriniar should return for Conte’s side but may only make the bench while Matías Vecino and Stefano Sensi are out.
Real Madrid really cannot afford to lose on Tuesday. Inter would go four points clear with a win and either Shakhtar or Mönchengladbach can pull further away in a meeting that Zidane will be hoping ends in a stalemate: after the international break Madrid travel to San Siro and the Olimpiyskiy Stadium in successive games.
Owing to Alexis Sanchez doubtful match fitness and Lautaro’s decline in form. Thus, given the ability of Madrid to produce goals from a variety of positions, and having Sergio Ramos to ward off any attack posed by the visitor, we say, the match would end 3-1 in favour of Real Madrid.
Real Madrid predicted XI vs Inter Milan
📋✅ Our 21-man squad for the match against @Inter_en!
#HalaMadrid | #RMUCL pic.twitter.com/9aNPGARdP5— Real Madrid C.F. 🇬🇧🇺🇸 (@realmadriden) November 2, 2020
Inter Milan predicted XI vs Real Madrid
🗣️ | PRESS CONFERENCE
The thoughts of Antonio #Conte on the eve of #RealInter 🎙️
— Inter ⭐⭐ (@Inter_en) November 2, 2020
