Inter will go on their next away trip as they face Bologna at the Stadio Renato Dall’Ara on Saturday, March 9, 2024, in Serie A.
In the search for the next three points, Inter travel to Bologna to face an in-form side, with manager Thiago Motta being the genius behind their recent success. The Rossoblù, currently sitting at 51 points & 4th place in the Serie A table, have already shown their quality against Inter on two different occasions. Back in October, they managed to take a point back home from the Giuseppe Meazza after drawing 2-2 with the Nerazzurri. After a strong start from the home side, Riccardo Orsolini and Joshua Zirkzee got on the scoresheet to draw level. In December, the two sides met again in the Coppa Italia, where Bologna won late on during extra time.
Bologna have won all of their last six games, beating strong sides such as Lazio, Atalanta and Fiorentina. Due to their great form, they are now only five points behind Milan in the Serie A table, looking to further close that gap. The already mentioned Riccardo Orsolini has played a big part in Bologna’s recent wins, scoring three and assisting one. New signing Jens Odgaard has also had a great start to life in Serie A, scoring twice for his new side.
Inter are looking to bring back several players who have returned to full fitness over the last days, namely Francesco Acerbi and Marcus Thuram, who already came off the bench during the last game. Davide Frattesi and Hakan Çalhanoğlu have both returned to group training, which indicates there is nothing in the way of their return to action against Bologna. Having almost the full size of the squad available again will be vital for Simone Inzaghi, who is looking to rotate ahead of the upcoming UEFA Champions League clash against Atlético Madrid. After beating Genoa in a narrow 2-1 victory on Monday, Inter will want to extend their unbeaten run of 2024. Despite the tight schedule and injuries, Inter have proven to be successful even with rotating the starting lineup, like they showed against Lecce two weeks ago with a 4-0 win.
According to SkySport Italy, Inter is expected to line up as follows (3-5-2): Sommer; Bisseck, Acerbi, Bastoni; Darmian, Barella, Çalhanoğlu, Mkhitaryan, Carlos Augusto; Thuram, Alexis Sánchez. Juan Cuadrado and Stefano Sensi are the only players out due to injury.
According to SkySport Italy, Bologna is expected to line up as follows (4-1-4-1): Skorupski; Posch, Beukema, Calafiori, Kristiansen; Freuler; Ndoye, Fabbian, Ferguson, Saelemakers; Zirkzee.
Bologna-Inter is set to kick off at 18:00 CET / 12:00 EST on Saturday, March 9, 2024.
Who are these randos at half time on CBS instead of the usual crew?
Couldn’t tell you, cause I’m watching on danish television😊
I was a bit worried beforehand about this match, seeing Bolognas form, the 2 times we’ve already met, and the coming Atletico game.
But I must say we have been in control most of the match, here in 70th minute. What we also were in the first match 2-0 up…
This is going to be a fun tactical battle, and IMHO, Joshua Zirkzee is a special player.
I agree that Inzaghi will likely rotate quite a bit: it’s just unfortunate that he may not be able to rotate much in midfield. Asllani looked gassed at the end of the previous game, but I think he’ll still start tomorrow and Hakan will likely come on around the 60 minute mark to get some match fitness back before Atletico. Barella and Mkhi cannot catch a break though, since Frattesi is probably not up to full fitness yet and Klaassen is, well…
I also wonder if Dumfries will start tomorrow: lately it looks like he has been the backup wingback and Darmian has been the starter, although I think Dumfries offers a lot more going forward.