Inter face Bologna away at the Dall’Ara Stadium, where they had indirectly lost the Scudetto last season due to a traumatic 2-1 loss caused by reserve goalkeeper Ionut Radu’s tragic mistake.
The Nerazzurri hope to delete that memory by winning their third consecutive game across all competition after they’ve beaten Porto on Wednesday in Champions League’s last 16 first leg and Udinese last Saturday in Serie A.
Overall, Simone Inzaghi’s side have lost just one game in 2023 and their last defeat away came in November against Juventus.
They currently sit in second position, 18 points away from Napoli and five points clear over fifth placed Lazio. Their opponent, though, will be a tough one.
Bologna have won four of their last six Serie A matches. In this period they have gained 13 points (level with Inter and Roma), fewer only than Napoli (21).
The Rossoblu currently sit in eight place on a par with Juventus and they’re dreaming to grab a European spot for next season.
Results from their last five matches in all competitions:
Bologna:
W L W W D
Inter:
W W D W W
Team News
Coach Simone Inzaghi will miss Milan Skriniar and Federico Dimarco. The Slovakian is out due to pain in his back while the Italian has felt some fatigue in his abdominal muscles.
That means that changes are expected in the starting line-up. Matteo Darmian is likely to start in the back-three alongside Francesco Acerbi and Alessandro Bastoni.
Robin Gosens will take Federico Dimarco’s place on the left.
Romelu Lukaku, after his game winning goal against Porto, is likely to start next to Lautaro Martinez with Edin Dzeko initially on the bench.
Bologna will miss Marko Arnautovic as the former Inter’s striker is out with a muscle problem. Joshua Zirkzee is out too injured.
Riccardo Orsolini will be their main offensive option as he has been involved in five of Bologna’s last six Serie A goal.
Predicted XIs
Bologna (4-2-3-1): Skorupski; Posch, Soumaoro, Lucumì, Cambiaso; Schouten, Dominguez; Orsolini, Ferguson, Soriano; Barrow.
Inter (3-5-2): Onana; Darmian, Acerbi, Bastoni; Dumfries, Barella, Brozovic, Calhanoglu, Gosens; Lukaku, Lautaro Martinez.
Andrea Agostinelli I GIFN
