Inter Milan VS Shakhtar Donetsk Match Prediction
2020-08-17
19:00:00
Inter Milan
VS
Shakhtar Donetsk
Our Prediction Tip
Inter Milan will win this match.
2020-08-1719:00:00 Inter Milan will win this match.
These two teams have not met in European football since the third qualifying round of the 2005-06 Champions League. On that occasion, Inter won 3-1 on aggregate, courtesy of an away win and a home draw.
Both teams are in good form but the difference in quality between the Italian Serie A and the Ukrainian Premier League means Inter’s form really catches the eye.
Victories against Getafe and Bayer Leverkusen were ultimately no more than expected for a team looking to get back onto the top table of European football.
But Inter had already been in excellent form at the end of their league campaign too and with Romelu Lukaku in fine form up front and the defence excellent too, they are favourites for this game.
Shakhtar have put in two eye-catching performances to reach this stage and have their own in-form striker in Junior Moraes.
Putting four past a Basel side in excellent defensive form should not be sniffed at either, but Inter’s defence steps things up another level – Basel had, recently, conceded four against Lugano too despite all their other clean sheets.
Shakhtar should not be written off but it is difficult to look beyond Antonio Conte and Inter for this match.
Inter are odds-on favourites for this game and can be backed at 3/4 to win with 888sport and Betway.
Inter are in excellent defensive form and, despite Shakhtar’s recent goals, you could bet against both teams to score at 6/5 with Bet365.
Romelu Lukaku is in superb goalscoring form and the Belgian striker is 21/20 with Betway to score at any time.
Inter are in fine form and, while Shakhtar are on a long unbeaten run too, there still looks a gap between themselves and the top European teams. On current form, Inter are very much back in the latter bracket.
Matias Vecino remains sidelined with a knee injury and Alexis Sanchez has also been ruled out with a thigh injury. Sanchez has only tended to feature from the bench, however, so Inter’s starting XI could be unchanged.
Romelu Lukaku – Scored in each of the last two rounds to continue a superb season in front of goal and the big Belgian striker is key up front.
Lautaro Martinez – Enjoying a good partnership alongside Lukaku up front and he is currently on 19 goals of his own.
Diego Godin – A key signing in the summer, he is part of a defence that have kept clean sheets in six of their last eight matches.
Inter have won their last five matches and are unbeaten in their last ten in total. They won 2-1 against Bayer Leverkusen last time out, with Nicolo Barrella and Romelu Lukaku netting. Lukaku also opened the scoring in a 2-0 win against Getafe in the previous – which also marked one of Inter’s six clean sheets in their last eight games.
With Davit Khocholava back from supsension, Shakhtar have a full-strength squad to choose from. The big selection question is whether Khocholava can oust Valerii Bondar at the back, or if Shakhtar will be unchanged from their quarter-final win.
Junior Moraes – Three goals in the last two matches have continued an excellent season up front for Shakhtar’s top striker.
Marlos – The winger set up the first two goals to get the ball rolling for Shakhtar against Basel and prove his quality in the attacking quartet.
Sergey Kryvtsov – With Romelu Lukaku in top form for Inter, the Shakhtar centre-back needs to step up to stop him.
Shakhtar Donetsk’s unbeaten run is actually one game longer than Inter’s – 11 following their dominant win against Basel in the last round. Junior Moraes scored twice and Manor Solomon scored the other in a 3-0 win against Wolfsburg prior to that, before Moraes, Taison, Alan Patrick and Dodo all netted in the 4-1 win against Basel in the quarter-finals.
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