Inter Milan continue their pre-season preparations with a trip to Austria to face Red Bull Salzburg on Wednesday.
Salzburg are already off and running for the season, while Inter do not get their Serie A campaign underway for another two weeks.
Match preview
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Inter have a lot to live up to after one of their finest seasons in recent years during 2022-23.
Claiming a second consecutive Coppa Italia meant it was an ultimately successful campaign despite the unfortunate Champions League final defeat to Manchester City.
Simone Inzaghi's side underwhelmed in Serie A, but more than made up for it with their performances in the cup competitions.
The manager has become renowned as something of a cup specialist, and last season further added reasoning for that belief.
A thrashing of local rivals AC Milan in the Supercoppa earned them their first piece of silverware, before repeating the trick against the Rossoneri in the Champions League semi-finals.
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Despite riding their luck at times, they also held on to beat Fiorentina in the Coppa Italia in Rome, just a few weeks before their eventual disappointment in Istanbul.
Inter have started pre-season in impressive fashion too, beating Lugano, thrashing Serie C side Pergolettese 10-0, and claiming a win over Paris Saint-Germain thanks to two late Sebastiano Esposito and Stefano Sensi goals.
Davide Frattesi was instrumental in that win over PSG, and also netted their only goal in a draw with former man Marcelo Brozovic's Al Nassr.
Following this clash, Inter have just one friendly left to warm-up for the new season, facing Albanian cup winners Egnatia Rrogozhine.
Inter get their Serie A campaign underway when Monza make the short trip to Milan on August 19.
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For Salzburg, their season is already underway, and they have got off to a fabulous start.
Three games, three wins and three clean sheets see Salzburg top of the Bundesliga and through to the Second Round of the Austrian Cup.
A comfortable 6-0 hammering of third-tier Ardagger/Viehdorf saw them progress in the cup, before two fine victories in the league over Altach and Tirol.
It continues an incredible record in competitive outings for the Austrian champions, as nobody has beaten them since Roma knocked them out of the Europa League in February.
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Team News
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Manager Gerhard Struber may make a few personnel changes given they have an important clash against Austria Vienna at the weekend.
Oscar Gloukh and Dorgeles Nene could be two of the players to come in after starting on the bench in both league fixtures so far.
New signings Aleksa Terzic and Mads Bidstrup may also feature as they continue to get to grips in their new environment.
There are few injury concerns for Struber though, with Fernando, Luka Sucic, Justin Omoregie and Daouda Guindo all currently out.
After the departure of Andre Onana, Inter have finally got their man in to replace the new Manchester United goalkeeper, with Yann Sommer set to arrive from Bayern Munich.
This match may come too soon for the Swiss keeper though, so Filip Stankovic, son of Inter legend Dejan, may continue between the sticks.
Lazar Samardzic is another player expected to arrive at the Nerazzurri this week, and he could be signed in time to feature here.
Roberto Gagliardini and Danilo D'Ambrosio have both left for Monza, to join Brozovic out the door at San Siro, but Frattesi and Juan Cuadrado have been notable additions to replace them.
Red Bull Salzburg possible starting lineup:
Schlager; Dedic, Solet, Pavlovic, Terzic; Bidstrup, Gourna-Douath, Kjaergaard, Gloukh; Simic, Nene
Inter Milan possible starting lineup:
F Stankovic; Darmian, Acerbi, Bastoni; Cuadrado, Barella, Frattesi, Calhanoglu, Dimarco; Thuram, Martinez
We say: Red Bull Salzburg 1-3 Inter Milan
Inter will use this fixture to give minutes to all of their first-team players, while Salzburg may rotate heavily given that their league season is already underway.
With Inter having all their big guns on the pitch though, they should get the better of a Salzburg side who may have a second-string team out.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Top tip
Andrew Delaney
