Inter Milan vs Lazio. Prediction and Preview. Probable Lineups, Team News, Stats, and more

Inter Milan will meet with SS Lazio in the Supercoppa Italiana semi final match at the Al-Awwal Park Stadium in Riyadh city, Saudi Arabia. The fixture will take place on Saturday, January 20, beginning at 00:30 IST.

Parimatch News will tell you everything you need to know ahead of the upcoming match.

Inter Milan News & Current Form: 

Inter approached the start of the season as the main favorites in the fight for the Scudetto – despite a number of losses in the summer, the Nerazzurri were able to compensate for them and, as time has shown, even became stronger. In the first leg, the team of Simone Inzaghi lost points several times, but against the background of many competitors looked stable and quite quickly managed to break into the lead.

At the moment Inter have 51 points in their asset and are deservedly leading in the standings. This mark was passed before only in the 2006/2007 season, but then they managed to get 54 points and led the season to the victory. The team has every chance to repeat that success again.

For now, however, Juventus FC are not letting them relax – the Torino side are holding onto a two-point distance and are ready to grab the podium at any moment. Third-placed AC Milan are already nine points behind and are not a threat at the moment.

In 20 league meetings, the capital club lost only to US Sassuolo (1:2), and also disappointingly lost points after draws with upstart Bologna FC (2:2), second-placed Juventus (1:1) and Genoa CFC (1:1).

By defeating AC Monza with a shocking score of 5:1 in the last round, Inter became the first club to beat all the other 67 teams that have ever participated in Serie A. This match was played after a difficult home win over Hellas Verona FC (2:1), where the opponents had long maintained their claim for a draw and failed to convert a penalty at the end of the game. It seemed that Simone Inzaghi’s team would have an even tougher time against Monza. 

However, Inter had already decided the outcome of the game by the 14th minute, when they scored two unanswered goals. In the second half, the Nerazzurri scored three more times, only managing to concede once. 

World Cup winner Lautaro Martinez is currently the top scorer of Italian Serie A with 18 goals to his name

The Milanese demonstrate simply marvelous combinational dominant football and regularly delight fans with results. The team has won sixteen matches with one defeat and three draws. The Cherished Ones managed to hit the opponent’s goal 49 times (the most in Serie A), while they conceded only ten goals (the least in the league). Lautaro Martinez scored 18 of them, and he also gave two assists. The Argentine tops the list of Serie A’s top scorers, Olivier Giroud is 8 goals behind him.

As for the UEFA Champions League, the Nerazzurri finished second in their group and qualified for the play-offs. They drew twice with Real Sociedad (1:1, 0:0), won and shared points with SL Benfica (1:0, 3:3), and also won twice against FC Red Bull Salzburg (2:1, 1:0). In the 1/8 finals the rival of the Milan club will be Atletico de Madrid. 

Milan have been winning trophies with enviable regularity lately and will not mind adding another Super Cup to their trophy box, moreover, Inter have won 2 previous editions of this tournament. In cup competitions the team performs strongly, having won the Coppa Italia in the last 2 seasons. However, this year the team has already sensationally dropped out of the Cup, losing to Bologna (1:2).

It is worth noting that head coach Simone Inzaghi has a fluttering relationship with the Italian Super Cup. As a coach, he won the trophy four times – twice with Lazio and the same number of times with Inter. At the end of the season, it is very likely that the 47-year-old will add another trophy to his collection.

Lazio News & Current Form: 

Last season, Lazio were a remarkable success – the charges of Maurizio Sarri won silverware with a rather modest squad, especially against Inter and Milan. Much was expected from the Eagles in the new season, but the loss of the leaders could not go without a trace – at the start of the season the Romans looked disorganized and lost a lot of points.

At the end of twenty rounds, the team from Rome has 33 points in its asset and occupies sixth place in the standings, they are only one point behind fourth-placed ACF Fiorentina, which is located in the Champions League zone.

The capital team was able to hit the opponent’s goal 24 times and 20 times missed in their own. Also the collective continues to fight in the Cup of the country, where they have already passed Genoa (1:0) and AS Roma (1:0), and in the semifinals will play with Juventus.

In the last round Lazio outplayed US Lecce (1:0), and before that also defeated Udinese Calcio (2:1), Frosinone Calcio (3:1) and Empoli FC (2:0). Before that, Maurizio Sarri’s men lost at home to Inter (0:2) and shared the points with Verona (1:1).

Ciro Immobile – captain and top scorer of SS Lazio

In addition, the White and Blues managed to qualify for the Champions League play-offs. In the group stage of the Old World’s most prestigious club tournament, the Eagles’ opponents were Atletico, Feyenoord and Celtic FC. They finished second in their group and will now face FC Bayern Munich.

Now Maurizio Sarri’s wards have to prepare for the game against the current leader of Serie A, but in the Italian Super Cup. And the head coach himself is not very happy about the competition – but it’s not just the fact that the tournament takes place 6,000 kilometers away, but also the inconvenient format in the form of semifinals and finals, which makes the teams have an extremely inconvenient calendar. 

Plus, Sarri also pointed out that the Super Cup is not a tournament where winning it can give the club some development, but more of a tournament where coaches want a trophy at no cost. It’s worth noting that in 2019 Lazio won the fifth Super Cup in their history and the seventh Italian Cup. 

It is worth noting that the team does not have a distinct sniper. The most goals (4) on the account of Ciro Immobile, but three of them the forward scored from the penalty spot. Mattia Zaccagni, Luis Alberto and Matias Vecino have scored three goals each. But there is a bright assistant – Felipe Anderson has six assists. In January, the coach lost two core players at once: Patric Gabarron and Valentin Castellanos dropped out due to injuries.

Inter Milan form guide: W-L-W-D-W-W

Lazio form guide: L-W-W-W-W-W

Inter Milan vs Lazio Head-To-Head Record:

• August 26, 2022: Lazio 3 – 1 Inter Milan Milan (Serie A);
• April 30, 2023: Inter Milan Milan 3 – 1 Lazio (Serie A);
• December 17, 2023: Lazio 0 – 2 Inter Milan Milan (Serie A).

Inter Milan vs Lazio Predicted XI:

Inter Milan’s possible starting lineup (3-5-2): Sommer; Bisseck, De Vrij, Bastoni; Darmian, Frattesi, Calhanoglu, Mkhitaryan, Dimarco; Thuram, Martinez.

Lazio’s possible starting lineup (4-3-3): Provedel; Lazzari, Fuentes, Romagnoli, Pellegrini; Guendouzi, Vecino, Alberto; Pedro, Immobile, Anderson.

Statistical preview of the match Inter Milan vs Lazio:

• Inter Milan’s First XI average age is 29.0 years, Lazio’s First XI average age is 29.3 years.
• Matteo Marchetti has been appointed as the center referee. The referee has already served seven games this season, showing an average of 2.5 Yellow Cards and also whistles 22 fouls per game. 
• The total value of Inter Milan’s squad is 588 mln euros, while the total of Lazio is just 241 mln euros.
• Inter serve an average of 5.63 corner kicks per game, while allowing an average of 3.59 corner kicks to their opponents.
• Lazio have an average of 5.11 corner kicks so far this season, while allowing their opponents exactly four corner kicks. 
• Only 1.44 yellow cards are received by Inter players this season and 2.68 yellow cards are earned by Lazio players.  
• Inter have not lost in regulation time for 15 matches in Serie A and the Italian Cup (11 wins, 4 draws).
• Inter have scored at least 2 goals in 8 of the 11 previous meetings in the league and Cup.
• Goals have been exchanged in 5 of Milan’s last 6 matches in the Italian Super Cup.
• Lazio’s winning streak in the league and domestic cup is 5 matches.
• The Romans have never drawn in the national Super Cup (5 wins, 3 losses).

What has been said before the match:

Gaffer of the Nerazzurri Simone Inzaghi is determined to win the Super Cup for the 3rd time in a row:

“The Supercoppa is our first objective of the season. We’ve won it in the past two years and want to do so again. The other sides involved will want to do the same. It’s the first trophy up for grabs this season, and we want to win it. We know we’ll be coming up against a side who are unbeaten in five matches. Lazio won the derby and have always caused us problems.”

“It’s never been an ordinary match for me. Lazio are the team that made me a man. They caused us problems in December and have put a lot of wins together recently. The format of the competition is different this time around: we need to focus on the semi-finals, and we’re also preparing for a possible penalty shootout.”

“Give us your support, just like you did last year. We know that there are a lot of you, and we hope we can make you happy like we did when we won it last season.”

Main coach of the Eagles Maurizio Sarri about the opponent and his team’s mentality ahead of the semi final clash:

“We are motivated, we face the strongest team in Italy and among the best in Europe, we will have to play our chances with footballing nastiness. All trophies give satisfaction to the team, the staff and the club. My statements are always aimed at trying to improve Italian football.”

Inter Milan vs Lazio Prediction:

Inter have certainly made a very solid impression in the 23/24 campaign so far: they win matches one by one, boasting the best offense (scoring 2.45 goals per 90 min) and defense (conceding just 0.5 per 90 min) in Serie A. But right now Lazio appear to be in fine form as well, and they are looking for their sixth consecutive win. In fact, the Eagles’ last loss was just at the hands of the Nerazzurri, at Stadio Olimpico. The total score of the last two matches in 2023 is 5:1. 

Now, the Italian Super Cup is taking place in Saudi Arabia. This is a good setting to see how teams play both being in a ‘guest’ role. The Black and Blues have a much deeper and yet more skilful squad than Lazio and, which also provides necessary context, are less painful to handle a tough schedule. Nevertheless, both teams approach optimal lineups. 

The capital club’s gaffer himself, Mauricio Sarri, estimates his team’s chances of winning the upcoming clash at 25-30 per cent. Perhaps this is just psychological warfare in the style of Pep Guardiola, putting the opponent’s vigilance to sleep. But more likely it is a recognition of the strength of Serie A leader and cup master Simone Inzaghi. The nominal guests have a slight advantage when looking at all the pre-match inputs.

The White and Sky Blues have only lost eight times in their last 50 matches against Lazio by more than one goal. We believe that Lautaro Martinez and crew will drag their club through to the Italian Super Cup final in much the same way they did in the last match. And a strong fightback from Sarri’s in-form side will only delay the inevitable. 

Parimatch News staff prediction:

We say: Lazio will win with handicap (+1) – Yes.