Inter Milan vs Lecce

A ‘David vs Goliath’ Serie A clash pits defending champions Inter Milan against perennial bottom-half strugglers Lecce against each other at Stadio Giuseppe Meazza.

Inter Milan’s bid to become the first reigning Scudetto champion to defend their title since Juventus five years ago didn’t start well as Genoa scored a last-gasp equalizer in a dramatic 2-2 draw on day one. Junior Messias’ stoppage-time strike puts ‘I Nerazzurri’ at risk of becoming only the fourth Scudetto holder since the start of the three-points-per-win era in 1994/95 to start a season without a victory in their first two outings. However, Simone Inzaghi’s charges must be confident about avoiding that unwanted feat, drawing inspiration from their outrageous home record against Lecce in Serie A (W17, L1). On top of that, Inter thrashed Lecce in both top-flight H2Hs last season by 2+ goals ‘to nil,’ while they’ve won all ten league meetings with this opposition at Meazza since a 1-0 loss in 2000.

Meanwhile, Lecce’s hopes of improving on last season’s dismal 14th-place finish are already in tatters after Atalanta trounced them 4-0 at Stadio Via del Mare earlier this week. The visitors’ well-documented scoring woes came to the fore again in that fixture, extending Lecce’s scoring drought in Serie A to four matches (D1, L3). Manager Luca Gotti must find a recipe for success in the front third to bolster his quest to steer Lecce to safety in their third successive season in Serie A. Hitting the road traditionally spells trouble for ‘I Giallorossi’ as they only managed two wins on 19 top-flight travels in 2023/24 (D8, L9). Though just one of those nine defeats came on their last six road trips (W2, D3), it ominously arrived on this ground when Inter’s arch-rivals AC Milan humbled them 3-0 in April.