Overview
The 2026-2027 Serie A season has just begun, but round 3 has already brought two notable confrontations between championship candidates. Before Juventus meets AC Milan, the highlight will be the showdown between defending champion Inter Milan and Napoli at San Siro.
Inter and Napoli have shared 4 recent Serie A titles. Napoli won in 2023 and 2025, while Inter won in 2024 and 2026.
Inter is having an impressive start in the journey to defend the Scudetto. They won all 2 of the first matches with a total score of 5-1, thereby ranking second in the rankings, only behind Roma due to inferior goal difference.
They will aim for a third consecutive victory to repeat the achievement they had in the 2023-2024 season. Inter can also score at least 6 goals in the first 3 rounds, something they have done in 8 consecutive seasons. The last time this team did not reach that milestone was in the 2018-2019 season, when they only scored 5 goals.
Inter and Napoli both stand out for their ball control and attacking ability. The two teams are leading Serie A in the number of attacking combinations this season, with Napoli having 13 times and Inter 11 times.
Alessandro Bastoni is one of the most important factors in Inter's way of controlling the game. This defender leads Serie A this season in number of touches (53), number of passes (208) and number of times participating in attacking situations (116, excluding shots and chances created).
Hakan Calhanoglu is also a notable name. The Turkish midfielder has directly participated in 6 goals in 9 encounters with Napoli in Serie A when playing for Inter, including 5 goals and 1 assist. Before that, he did not score or assist in 5 encounters with Napoli when playing for Milan.
Napoli has just suffered a major loss when Scott McTominay had to rest for about a month to undergo heart surgery. The absence of the Scottish midfielder makes Kevin De Bruyne expected to shoulder more responsibility in organizing attacks.
De Bruyne is leading Napoli in the number of decisive passes after 2 rounds, with 6 times. He also scored and assisted in the victory against Genoa in the opening match. That goal was De Bruyne's 101st goal in 5 top European national leagues.
The confrontation at San Siro also marks a special return of Massimiliano Allegri. The former Milan coach will return to this stadium as captain of Napoli.
Head-to-head record
Inter is the team with the second most wins against Napoli in Serie A, with 70 wins, 42 draws and 48 defeats. Nerazzurri also scored 229 goals against the opponent, only behind Juventus in both wins and goals. Juventus has beaten Napoli 72 times and scored 232 goals in the league.
However, Napoli is on a 5-match unbeaten streak against Inter in Serie A, including 1 win and 4 draws.
Score prediction: Inter Milan 1-1 Napoli
The match between Inter Milan and Napoli takes place at 11:00 PM on September 5th (Vietnam time).
