Inter Milan vs Sampdoria Preview: A Return to the San Siro

After 3 months of a coronavirus entailed break, the 2019-20 Serie A campaign resumes this weekend. While the majority of the league will be resuming with Matchday 27, Inter will be making up a round 25 fixture. The Nerazzurri meet Sampdoria at the San Siro on Sunday. With nine points separating Inter from 1st, it must win games like these to have any chance of claiming its first Scudetto in ten years.

Photo by Claudio Villa - Inter/Inter via Getty Images

Inter will likely be less rusty compared to its counterparts, as it has 90 minutes already under its belt. Those came in a Coppa Italia semi final vs Napoli. In that match Inter played well but lacked a cutting edge in the final third. Ideally, that edge will be found Sunday, even though Sampdoria provides much less of a test than Napoli.

The Genoa side is mired in the bottom half of the table, just one point clear of relegation. Prior to the shutdown Sampdoria had been sliding towards the drop zone and are now in a clump of five teams separated by three points. Getting a result in this game would definitely improve Sampdoria’s chances of survival. Especially considering it has more quality than most of its other relegation opponents and shouldn’t lose in matches against such teams.

Photo by Marco Luzzani - Inter/Inter via Getty Images

Predicted Starting XI’s

Notes

• After a solid performance against Napoli that resulted in his first goal for Inter, we can expect Christian Eriksen to continue in the starting eleven.
• How nice not to have many injuries to deal with. Unfortunately this is not an environment that will last very long. We’ve already seen Sensi and Vecino pick up knocks. Still, let’s enjoy a mostly full strength squad while we have it.

This game kicks off a wild stretch of two matches a week for over a month. Starting this run off with a win could be very important, and Inter should be able to do so against Sampdoria. Forza Inter!