Inter – Monza

Monza will put up resistance to the match favourite

Inter picked up a vital win in the middle of the week. The Serpents beat Benfica 0-2 on Tuesday in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final. This was made possible by goals from Nicolo Barella and Romelu Lukaku. However, on the 19th, the Nerazzurri will play a return leg against the Portuguese side. Inter have been on a very tight schedule since the beginning of April. In the space of almost half a month, the team have already played four games in three or four days, with only the aforementioned European competition being the victorious one. Prior to that, the Serpents dropped points to Salernitana 1-1 in the league and 0-1 to Fiorentina, while in the cup encounter they failed to pick a winner against Juventus 1-1. To make matters worse, Simone Inzaghi's side were victorious in the league four rounds ago (2-0 against Lecce). After their success against the Wolves, Inter have played seven matches and scored more than one goal in only one (again against Benfica). Yes, a win against Salernitana would have been logical and deserved for Simone Inzaghi's side. The Nerazzurri completely outplayed their opponents, but they conceded a fatal goal in the 90th minute through Candreva. However, this development was directly attributable to the aforementioned problem with goalscoring. There is also a certain crisis in the standings. The Snakes dropped to fifth place, seven points behind second. And the gap from Atalanta, who are sitting in sixth place, is only three points. Monza have only lost one of their last five matches. However, on three occasions they have been at peace with their opponents. On the road the Biancorossi drew 2-2 with Udinese. Palladino's side could have been sitting on three points but conceded a second goal in the 90+2 minutes. However, the latest news around the club is far from the players' performance on the pitch. Not so long ago, Silvio Berlusconi was hospitalized and now the team are obliged to play, including for their president. In 2023, the Brienzolli have played eight away games, suffering two defeats. Only one of them was by a margin of more than one goal (3-0 at the hands of Salernita). Inter are on a very tight schedule, and the return leg against Benfica forces Simone Inzaghi to make some changes. In the first leg encounter, the opponents shared points. It is not certain that Monza will be able to do so now, but they must not lose face.