Inter Milan vs Bologna: Match Preview

Last weekend’s 3-0 away win against Sassuolo and Tuesday’s 3-2 win at Mönchengladbach in the Champions League have felt like a corner turned for Antonio Conte and Inter Milan, who suffered a shaky October and November. The next test will come on Saturday against Sinisa Mihajlovic’s Bologna, who have beaten Inter on each of their last two trips to the San Siro. Inter will be looking to keep their first sustained run of form of this season going against the Rossoblu to carry into next week’s Champions League group decider against Shakhtar Donetsk.

Photo by Alessandro Sabattini/Getty Images

Bologna are very much a midtable side this season. They currently sit tenth in the league, dead in the middle of the table. Their four win and five draws on the season are about on par with Bologna’s recent history, having finished tenth and 12th in the past two seasons. However, in those two seasons, Bologna have returned home from the San Siro with 0-1 and 1-2 wins. Last season, it was goals from Musa Juwara and Musa Barrow that snatched a shock win for Mihajlovic’s side. This season, it will be a challenge for Bologna to make it three away wins in a row without playmaker Riccardo Orsolini, fullback Mitchell Dijks, winger Andreas Skov Olsen and striker Federico Santander, who will be unavailable for the match. However, Bologna will have former Inter players Rodrigo Palacio and Gary Medel at their disposal.

Photo by Claudio Villa - Inter/Inter via Getty Images

After the shaky stretch Inter endured, recent times have been much more generous. The team is becoming a better group each week. This has helped Inter jump into second lace in the league and given them a lifeline in the Champions League. Tuesday’s hard fought win away in Germany means there are possibilities for rotation in the starting XI. It is believed that Nicolo Barella will be rested as a precaution over a slight calf problem while Danilo D’Ambrosio and possibly Andrea Ranocchia will get starts in defense. Stefano Sensi is still not fit to start from kickoff, but Arturo Vidal should return after his midweek suspension while fellow Chilean Alexis Sanchez is believed to be getting another start in attack after his solid showing against Sassuolo with the goal of making it three Serie A wins in a row for Inter.

Previous Results

1-2 (A) - 2/11/2019

1-2 (H) - 7/5/2020

Predicted Starting XIs

Prediction: Inter 3-1 Bologna

While Inter should come out on top in this match, the partnership of Barrow and Palacio has the capability of causing the Inter defense issues, especially on the counterattack. The impetus will be on Inter to keep pace with the contenders at the top of the table in an attempt to claw back the early ground lost on current league leaders AC Milan. Ultimately, Inter’s quality should see them through this match, though a clean sheet may elude them.