Inter Milan host Benfica at the San Siro this Tuesday in the second matchday of the Champions League. With both sides looking for their first win of their Champions League campaign, it’s likely to be an entertaining affair.
Inter currently sit second in Group D after just one game. With one draw so far, Inter are two points behind RB Salzburg already and only sit second by virtue of goal difference. In their domestic league however, Inter sit top of Serie A with six wins and one loss in seven games.
In their last five games in all competitions, Inter Milan have three wins, one draw and one loss. In the fierce Milan Derby, Inter took away a big win. Marcus Thuram and Davide Frattesi both scored, with Hakan Calhanoglu converting a penalty and Henrikh Mkhitaryan grabbing a brace in the 5 - 1 win over AC Milan. In the first Group stage game, Inter Milan travelled to Real Sociedad. Brais Mendez opened the scoring early for Sociedad, but Lautaro Martinez equalised in the 87th minute to grab a 1 - 1 draw. Federico Dimarco scored the only goal in Inter’s 1 - 0 win over Empoli and despite Denzel Dumfries’ opening goal against Sassuolo, Nedim Bajrami and Domenico Berardi both scored to hand Inter a 2 - 1 loss.
Most recently, Inter faced Salernitana on Saturday. Martinez had a stunning final 30 minutes where he bagged four goals. Of these four goals, only one, the third, was a penalty, with Martinez giving Inter the 4 - 0 win.
Benfica, on the other hand, sit bottom of Group D with a loss in their first game of the group. In the Primeira Liga, Benfica sit second after seven games, with six wins and one loss, just one point behind Sporting Lisbon.
In their last five games in all competitions, Benfica have four wins and one loss. Angel Di Maria, Orkun Kokcu and Fredrik Aursnes along with a Jorde Fernandes own goal gave Benfica the 4 - 0 win over Vitoria. Petar Musa and another goal from Di Maria both scored in the 2 - 1 win over Vizela with Samu converting a penalty late on for Vizela. In the Champions League, Benfica faced RB Salzburg. Antonio Silva was sent off early on and after going down to ten men, Roko Simic converted a penalty and Oscar Gloukh scored to give Salzburg the 2 - 0 win. However, Benfica were back to winning ways against Portimonense. Alexander Bah, Musa and David Neres all scored in the 3 - 1 win.
In their most recent outing, Benfica hosted Porto. With Fabio Cardoso sent off early for Porto, Di Maria scored in the second half to give Benfica the 1 - 0 win.
Inter Milan and Benfica have met three times in their Champions League history, with Benfica yet to win in this fixture. The first meeting between the two was the 1964/65 Champions League Final, with Inter winning 1 - 0 for their first Champions League title. Then most recently, Inter and Benfica met in the 2022/23 Quarter-finals. Inter won the first leg 2 - 0 and drew the second leg 3 - 3 as Inter won 5 - 3 on aggregate.