Inter Milan vs Cagliari preview

For the first time this season, Inter Milan will be participating in the Coppa Italia by hosting Cagliari tonight at the Guiseppe Meazza stadium in the round of 16.

The Nerrazurri did start the year with a 3-1 win against Napoli at the San Paolo, however, Antonio Conte’s men proved to be a disappointment last weekend after dropping two points to fourth-placed Atalanta, which cost them first place to Juventus. 

The away side will be trying to contain Lautaro Martinez, the Argentinian scored three goals in three games against them in the Internazionale colors. Another threat will be Romelu Lukaku, who seems to have found his feet in his new colours. The Belgian provided a marvelous assist to Martinez last weekend and has also scored 14 goals this season to equal Crsitiano Ronaldo’s numbers.

On the other side, the Sardinians have had a remarkable season, unfortunately for them though, their form hasn’t been the same recently; Cagliari have failed to show off any wins in the past five games.

Moreover, their latest games have been against challenging opposition: losing by four goals to nothing at the Allianz Stadium against new league leaders Juventus, only to be followed by a 2-0 defeat at home after facing AC Milan.

Despite the poor results, the Cagliari side has unique individual talents under manager Rolando Maran, who can make the task harder for the hosts. Recent addition, Giovanni Simeone loaned in from Fiorentina with an obligation to buy, has scored two goals in his first five games in his new colours – a drastic change after finding the net eight times in 40 games with the Viola previously.

Veteran and familiar face Radja Nainggolan scored four goals and created five so far this season, in front of him is talented forward Joao Pedro, the Brazilian in 19 games has found the net on 11 occasions this campaign just behind Lukaku in the scoring tally.

The winner of this interesting and challenging contest will be facing either Atalanta or Fiorentina in the quarter-final.