Overview
Unbeaten in 12 matches in Serie A, the number one candidate for Scudetto, Inter, has strongly broken away in 2026 and continued to extend their impressive form with a victory over Sassuolo last week.
With a resounding 5-0 victory, Nerazzurri widened the gap with their city rival Milan to 8 points. Federico Dimarco shined with 3 assists, while 5 other players wrote their names on the scoreboard.
That was also Inter's fifth consecutive victory in all competitions, including the 2-0 victory over Borussia Dortmund, thereby winning a ticket to the upcoming UEFA Champions League play-off against Bodo/Glimt.
Still having the opportunity to conquer the highest title in Europe, and also aiming for the top spot in Serie A, Inter has also reached the semi-finals of the Coppa Italia. Therefore, the treble they once achieved in 2010 is still in sight under coach Cristian Chivu.
However, Inter often encounters problems in the biggest tests, partly considered a consequence of the shock of losing heavily to Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League final last season.
Not only stumbling in some major matches in Europe, Inter has also just won exactly one point in direct confrontations with the top four Italian teams. Including a dramatic 3-4 defeat to Juventus at the beginning of the season. Leading when the match was only 10 minutes away, they still returned empty-handed. As a result, Nerazzurri has only won 1 in their last 7 encounters with Juventus in the league.
Notably, the two most successful clubs in Serie A created a 8-goal chase in their most recent meeting at San Siro in October 2024. And once again, Inter lost the advantage when Kenan Yildiz scored a late double.
Continuing the rivalry that began in 1909, Juventus will aim for a third consecutive victory against Inter in the domestic arena - something they have not done in nearly 14 years. The last three encounters between the two teams have a total of 16 goals, and this weekend will be a showdown of the two best attacks of Serie A.
Under the guidance of former Inter coach Luciano Spalletti, Juventus has undergone a strong transformation, winning 7/10 recent Serie A matches and scoring 23 goals. Last week, they drew 2-2 dramatically with Lazio, when Pierre Kalulu's equalizer in the 90+6 minute helped the "Old Lady" snatch 1 point and maintain an unbeaten home record.
Besides returning to the top 4, Juventus has also won a ticket to the Champions League knockout round, where they will face Galatasaray in the play-offs. However, they were just eliminated by Atalanta in the quarter-finals of the Coppa Italia.
In the context of Roma and Como closely following behind in the Serie A standings, the Turin team is not allowed to lose in the Derby d'Italia match. Therefore, Spalletti will aim to end the worrying trend when traveling to Milan.
In the last four away games - against Cagliari, Parma, Monaco and Bergamo - Juventus lost 2 matches and were goalless in 3 different matches, making this trip even more stressful.
Personnel situation
Inter's hope is ignited thanks to the return of two key midfielders Nicolo Barella and Hakan Calhanoglu, as both have returned to full training. However, it is still a matter of waiting to see who of them qualifies to start.
On Juventus' side, Francisco Conceicao is expected to return after a knee injury, so the absence list due to injury is only Dusan Vlahovic and Arkadiusz Milik.
Expected lineup:
Inter Milan: Sommer, Bisseck, Akanji, Bastoni, Henrique, Sucic, Zielinski, Mkhitaryan, Dimarco, Thuram, Martinez.
Di Gregorio, Kalulu, Bremer, Kelly, Cambiaso, Locatelli, Thuram, Conceicao, McKennie, Yildiz, David.
The match between Inter and Juventus takes place at 2:45 am on February 15 (Vietnam time).
