No Radical Changes For Cristian Chivu And Inter Ahead Of Scudetto Showdown Against Napoli

With the second half of the 2025-26 Serie A season now upon us, the stakes for the title race may not getting higher than this in a tough clash today at the Giuseppe Meazza stadium between former league champions, Inter Milan and reigning champions, Napoli.

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Apart from the three points at stake, there is also a possible head to head to consider and the risk of widening the gap in the title race that gives this match whole new dimension plus the growing tension between the club which emanated from the first leg where the Partenopei won 3-1.

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For Nerazzurri, they will definitely have their fans cheering them as they come up against the team that beat them to the Serie A title last season by just one point on the last day of the season and this time around, they’re presented with a golden opportunity to put some distance between them at this stage of the season m

Heading into this match, Cristian Chivu will want to get his tactics and line up right and during his pre-match press conference, he already confirmed one starter for this game, Luis Henrique who will continue his consecutive start in the right wing-back role as Denzel Dumfries is currently injured.

As for the rest of the team, the former Parma coach is reportedly not ready to radically change things and will probably trust some of the players he had been using recently, starting with the duo of Yann Bisseck and Piotr Zielinski, leaving experienced figures on the bench for the top-of-the-table clash.

According to Gazzetta dello Sport, the Inter coach has effectively finalised his starting lineup, starting with of Yann Sommer in goal and in front of the Swiss goalkeeper will be the usual three central defenders, made up of Bisseck, Manuel Akanji and Alessandro Bastoni.

The German defender is currently favoured over Francesco Acerbi, who would otherwise be asked to operate as the central centre-back, a position that Akanji has now made his own. In the midfield, Zielinski is expected to get the nod over Henrikh Mkhitaryan in the Mezzela role.

The former Napoli star will look to continue his great form and against his former club, he is set to line up alongside Hakan Calhanoglu and Nicolò Barella. On the right and left flanks, Luis Henrique and Federico Dimarco should get the nod ahead of the Carlos Augusto who can fill up multiple roles in the team.

For the attack, the duo of Marcus Thuram and Lautaro Martinez will start while Ange-Yoan Bonny and Francisco Pio Esposito should be reliable options off the bench and in what should be another source of good news for Chivu, the duo of Andy Diouf and Davide Frattesi have recovered enough to be on the bench.

The Beneamata will be looking to make a statement against Antonio Conte’s team, hence, the selections underline Chivu’s willingness to reward form and energy. Even at the expense of senior figures, for a match that could have a major impact on the Scudetto race.

In a related development, Inter and their city rival club, AC Milan are planning a Tunnel Club for their new San Siro stadium, in the style of Tottenham and Manchester City arenas, allowing fans to see players up close before kick-off as the plans for their new stadium continue to unravel.

The go-ahead has finally been given to build a new stadium in what is currently the parking lot of the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza and once that is completed, then the current structure can be knocked down or transformed for different purposes but no consensus has been reached yet.

The project is still at the design stage and according to Gazzetta dello Sport, one of the additions to the project planned by architects Manica and Foster + Partners is a Tunnel Club which will allow fans with very select tickets be able to watch the players get ready in the tunnel just before kick-off, seeing them through a glass pane.

Read Also: Inter Set Clear Terms For Frattesi’s Exit As They Look To Improvise In The Market For Their Wingback Role

It will let them stand right next to the squads and look them up close in the build-up to the match, copying the Tottenham Stadium and Manchester City’s Etihad. Specifically the Spurs project is the one that actually gave them the idea and the new San Siro should have around 71,500 seats in two tiers, and will be oval rather than San Siro’s iconic rectangular structure.

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