Reigning Coppa Italia champions Inter Milan begin their defence of the trophy against Serie B outfit Parma on Tuesday.
Parma defeated Salernitana and Bari to reach the round-of-32 stage.
Match preview
© Reuters
After inflicting Serie A leaders Napoli's first defeat of the season in their first game back after the recent World Cup in Qatar, Inter Milan would have had eyes on putting together a winning run to make up ground on Luciano Spalletti's side in the table.
However, Inter were twice pegged back by Monza in a 2-2 draw at Stadio Brianteo on Saturday, meaning it was a case of one step forward and one step backwards yet again for Simeone Inzaghi's team in what has proven to be an inconsistent campaign so far.
As such, retaining the Coppa Italia is likely to be I Nerazzurri's best chance of winning a trophy this season, although they remain in the hunt for a fourth European Cup title after being drawn against Porto in the first knockout round.
The winner of Tuesday's tie will face either Atalanta or Spezia in the quarter-final, so Inzaghi will be keen to see his side reach the final four of Italy's domestic cup competition at the very least.
© Reuters
Parma, meanwhile, are still licking their wounds from being relegated from Serie A after finishing rock-bottom in the 2020-21 season.
After falling to the fourth tier of Italian football due to financial difficulties in 2015, the Yellow and Blues impressively earned three successive promotions to return to the elite, but their stay came to an end once again after three seasons.
Parma never looked like bouncing back at the first attempt, ultimately finishing 12th last season, but this time around they are in the mix of the playoffs and are enjoying a decent cup run.
Indeed, should they stun Inter at San Siro on Tuesday, it would represent their first quarter-final appearance in the Coppa Italia for eight seasons.
Team News
© Reuters
Inter will remain without their key midfielder Marcelo Brozovic due to a calf injury, which the Croatian international sustained against Argentina during their World Cup semi-final defeat last month.
Full-back Dalbert also remains sidelined due to a cruciate ligament injury, with Inzaghi likely to make plenty of changes ahead of hosting Hellas Verona in Serie A at the weekend.
Parma, meanwhile, will travel without their legendary goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon due to a hamstring issue, although the 44-year-old has only played on three occasions this season in any case.
Head coach Fabio Pecchia is also likely to have to make do without Elias Cobbaut, Gabriel Charpentier, Daniel Ansaldi and Valentin Mihaila due to various injury problems.
Inter Milan possible starting lineup:
Handanovic; D'Ambrosio, De Vrij, Di Marco; Dumfries, Gagliardini, Asllani, Calhanoglu, Gosens; Correa, Lukaku
Parma possible starting lineup:
Chichizola; Del Prato, Osorio, Valenti, Oosterwolde; Man, Sohm, Bernabe, Juric, Tutino; Vazquez
We say: Inter Milan 2-0 Parma
Despite Inzaghi being likely to make selection changes en masse, we expect Inter to have too much strength in depth for their Serie B opponents.
Parma's form has been relatively patchy of late, and it is likely to be one game too far for them in terms of their Coppa Italian run.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
