After an impressive 2-0 victory at the Estadio da Luz in the first leg, Inter only need to ensure they don’t suffer a heavy defeat in the Champions League quarter-final second leg against Benfica.
The Nerazzurri impressed in Lisbon a week earlier and won the game thanks to goals from Nicolo Barella and Romelu Lukaku. Benfica failed to show why they are top of the Primeira Liga but Inter will still need to make sure they get the job done at the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza on Wednesday night.
They showed their fragility once again though at the weekend as they were beaten 1-0 at home by Monza. The Inter fans will have to hope that the trend of the Champions League being a safe haven continues.
Inter vs Benfica: Predicted line-ups
There was not a huge amount of rotation from Simone Inzaghi for the Monza game which makes the result even more concerning. Kristjan Asllani will presumably drop to the bench in favour of Marcelo Brozovic, whilst there could be a rest for Henrikh Mkhitaryan as Hakan Calhanoglu is back from injury. Lautaro Martinez will also return to the starting lineup.
Benfica also suffered a domestic defeat ahead of this game, losing 1-0 away at Chaves to a 94th-minute goal. Roger Schmidt did not make many changes at all for that game so his side will not necessarily be any fresher than Inter. The likes of Goncalo Ramos, Rafa Silva, Chiquinho, Fredrik Aursnes and Joao Mario all started.
Inter predicted XI vs Benfica (3-5-2): Onana; Darmian, Acerbi, Bastoni; Dumfries, Barella, Brozovic, Calhanoglu, Dimarco; Lukaku, Lautaro.
Benfica predicted XI vs Inter (4-2-3-1): Vlachodimos; Gilberto, Antonio Silva, Morato, Grimaldo; Luis, Chiquinho; Mario, Rafa Silva, Aursnes; Ramos.
Inter vs Benfica: When does the Champions League fixture start?
The Champions League quarter-final first-leg fixture of Inter vs Benfica kicks off on Wednesday night at 21:00 CEST – local time in Italy – making it a 20:00 BST kick-off in the United Kingdom and Ireland.
In the United States, kick-off in Inter vs Benfica is 15:00 EST or 12:00 PST.
Inter vs Benfica: Where to watch the Champions League fixture?
In the United States, every Champions League game in 2022/23 can be seen on Paramount+, including Inter vs Benfica and the other standout fixtures of the Champions League quarter-final.
In the United Kingdom and Ireland, you can watch Inter vs Benfica on BT Sport 2.
