Young Boys vs Inter Milan Preview & Prediction | 2024-25 UEFA Champions League | League Phase
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Young Boys are still without a win in this season’s Champions League and the opposition continues to prove formidable with Inter Milan the latest to come up against the Swiss champions.
KICK-OFF DATE/TIME: Wednesday October 23rd 2024: UK – 8:00pm / US ET – 3:00pm / US PT – 12:00pm
HOW TO WATCH ON TV: UK – TNT Sports 7 / US – CBS Sports
HOW TO WATCH ONLINE: UK – discovery+ / US – Paramount+
YOUNG BOYS PREVIEW: A LEAGUE PHASE TO FORGET SO FAR
Young Boys are one of the only clubs who are still to record their first goal in this season’s competition after two games. It’s been pretty miserable in all honesty for them, losing comfortably against Aston Villa by three goals to nil at home, before being thrashed 5-0 by Barcelona following that.
It’s looking less and less likely that Young Boys can turn things around, especially when considering who they now take on. Solutions will need to be found at both ends of the pitch for them to have a chance.
INTER MILAN PREVIEW: FIRST WIN ON THE BOARD
Following an excellently dug-out point away to Man City in the opening round, the side who beat them in the 2023 Champions League final, Inter Milan went on to make light work of Crvena Zvezda in their next game, winning 4-0 in Italy.
Mehdi Taremi bagged a pair of assists as well as a goal for himself in that one, whilst the likes of Lautaro Martinez and Marko Arnautovic also scored for the Italians. Speaking of Lautaro, he netted the winning goal in a 0-1 triumph over AS Roma in Serie A on Sunday.
YOUNG BOYS TEAM NEWS: FRONT TWO UNDER PRESSURE TO REVERSE GOALSCORING FORTUNES
Cedric Itten and Meschak Elia should be deployed as a strike partnership and face a big job up against a formidable Inter Milan defence. Janko, Pfeiffer and Zoukrou are all missing for Young Boys through injuries.
PREDICTED XI (4-3-1-2): Von Ballmoos; Athekame, Camara, Benito, Hadjam; Males, Niasse, Monteiro; Ugrinic; Itten, Elia
UNAVAILABLE: Janko (Injured), Pfeiffer (Injured), Zoukrou (Injured)
QUESTIONABLE:
INTER MILAN TEAM NEWS: CALHANOGLU EXPECTED TO MISS OUT
After being forced off early on against Roma with an injury, influential midfielder Hakan Calhanoglu won’t feature in Bern, meaning a likely central midfield three of Mkhitaryan, Frattesi and Barella. Experienced defender Acerbi is also out.
PREDICTED XI (3-5-2): Sommer; Pavard, De Vrij, Bastoni; Dumfries, Mkhitaryan, Frattesi, Barella, Augusto; Taremi, Lautaro
UNAVAILABLE: Acerbi (Injured), Calhanoglu (Injured), Zielinski (Injured)
QUESTIONABLE:
KEY STATS
- Young Boys have lost only one of their previous five UEFA competition matches at home against Italian teams (W3 D1).
- Young Boys have won only one of their last 13 matches in the UEFA Champions League proper (D3 L9).
- Inter Milan have lost only one of their last ten UEFA Champions League matches (W5 D4).
- Inter Milan are unbeaten in their last eight UEFA Champions League group/league phase matches (W4 D4).
- Inter have kept four clean sheets in their last five UEFA Champions League matches.
YOUNG BOYS VS INTER MILAN PREDICTION
Provided that Inter Milan leave the thought of any complacency behind in the dressing room, then they are likely to wind up far too strong for a Young Boys side who have looked out of their depth across the league phase thus far. When you also factor in the notoriously solid Inter backline and Young Boys’ lack of prowess going forward, the expectation is that the Italian giants won’t just win this game, they’ll also record a clean sheet for the third consecutive match over the course of this league phase.
YOUNG BOYS VS INTER MILAN TIP: INTER MILAN TO WIN TO NIL
