Inter Milan vs Barcelona

Stadio Giuseppe Meazza is the venue as Inter Milan and Barcelona go head-to-head in a high-stakes Champions League Group C encounter.

Back-to-back encounters between the two experienced European campaigners could determine who progresses into the knockouts after both sides lost to Bayern Munich in the opening two rounds. After a 2-0 home loss to the perennial Bundesliga champions, Inter Milan picked themselves up to beat group minnows Viktoria Plzen 2-0 on the road last time out. However, Simone Inzaghi’s men have since lost consecutive Serie A matches despite scoring the opener on each occasion, including a 2-1 home reverse to Roma at the weekend. Already eight points behind in the Scudetto race, ‘I Nerazzurri’ can ill-afford another sub-par result in Europe if they are to avoid a fourth group elimination across the last five campaigns. Yet Inter’s dismal 14-game record against Barcelona in major European competitions is far from inspiring (D4, L8).

In the meantime, visiting Barcelona put Plzen to the sword on day one, claiming an overwhelming 5-1 home triumph but since lost 2-0 at Bayern on matchday two. A disappointing result in Germany made it three defeats out of four Champions League travels for the ‘Blaugrana’ (W1), as many as in their previous 25 such games (W15 D7). Indeed, despite setting a record for the best unbeaten start away from home in La Liga history (W13, D5), Xavi Hernandez has become only the second Barcelona manager to lose his first two away Champions League fixtures. Another failure s likely to rake up memories of last season when Barca failed to get out of their Champions League group phase for the first time since 2000/01.