Inter vs Udinese Preview: Chivu's Perfect Start Meets the Side That Won Here Last Season
Inter have won all three of their league matches, scored eight goals and sit third on nine points. Udinese arrive at San Siro on four points from three, having just lost for the first time this season, and carrying an injury list that runs to six names. On paper this is the most one-sided fixture of the round. The complication is that Udinese won here last season.
Three Wins, Then a Reality Check in Madrid
Inter’s domestic record is not the interesting part of their week. They beat Monza 4-1 on the opening weekend, won 1-0 at Cagliari, then produced the result of the round so far by coming from two goals down to beat Napoli 3-2 — Lautaro Martínez scoring twice, the second of them in stoppage time. Three league games, nine points, eight goals.
Then came Tuesday’s trip to the Bernabéu, where they lost 2-1 to Real Madrid in their Champions League opener and were second best for long stretches of the second half. That is the context Cristian Chivu is working with: a squad that has been excellent domestically, has real mileage in its legs, and now returns to a league fixture it is expected to win comfortably. Chivu has said he will rotate.
Udinese’s season reads 1-1 with Como, 3-2 at Monza, then a 2-1 home defeat to Lazio in which they led before being turned over. Kosta Runjaić’s side have also navigated two Coppa Italia rounds, winning 1-0 at Padova and 2-1 against Venezia. They have scored in every competitive match they have played this season.
Head-to-Head: The Recent Meetings
Inter have won 18 of the last 23 Serie A meetings between these two, and hold the advantage in the all-time league series: 58 wins to Udinese’s 23, with 27 draws, from 108 matches. At San Siro the record is even more lopsided — 37 Inter wins in 60, against 11 for Udinese.
But the most recent meeting at this ground went the other way. On 31 August 2025, Udinese won 2-1 at San Siro, ending a run of seven consecutive away defeats against Inter. They then lost 1-0 at home in the reverse fixture in January.
| Date | Competition | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 17 Jan 2026 | Serie A | Udinese 0-1 Inter |
| 31 Aug 2025 | Serie A | Inter 1-2 Udinese |
| 30 Mar 2025 | Serie A | Inter 2-1 Udinese |
| 28 Sep 2024 | Serie A | Udinese 2-3 Inter |
| 8 Apr 2024 | Serie A | Udinese 1-2 Inter |
Four Inter wins and one Udinese win from the last five. The Udinese win is the one that will be playing on a few minds in the home end.
Four Things to Watch
1. Lautaro Martínez against a patched-up back three
Inter’s captain has two goals in three league games this season and has scored seven Serie A goals against Udinese across his career, including the winner at Udine last season. Udinese are expected to start Christian Kabasele and Enzo Ebosse alongside James Abankwah, with Oumar Solet and Matteo Palma both out. It is a makeshift unit against the most in-form striker in the fixture.
2. Inter’s home numbers
Inter have scored 36 goals in 13 Serie A home matches in the 2026 calendar year — 2.8 per game at San Siro — and in this season’s league they lead the division for possession (66 per cent), duel success rate (61.6 per cent) and total shots (73). Udinese, by contrast, have conceded in each of their last four matches. The volume alone will be a problem.
3. Six absentees and a bench that Runjaić does not trust
Udinese are without Nicolò Zaniolo, Jakub Piotrowski, Oumar Solet, Matteo Palma, Juan Arizala and Alessandro Zanoli. Solet and Piotrowski both went off during the Lazio defeat, and Runjaić said afterwards that being forced into two early changes left him unable to reshape the game later on. Against a side that scores 2.8 a game at home, a thin bench is a structural problem, not a detail.
4. Inter’s clean-sheet record is worse than their results suggest
This is the one number that gives Udinese hope. Inter have kept a single clean sheet in their last six matches in all competitions. Udinese have scored in every competitive match they have played this season, and Hassane Kamara already has two league goals from wing-back. If Udinese get one, this becomes a different match.
Predicted Lineups
Neither side had confirmed a starting XI at the time of writing. The selections below follow the projected elevens published by Khel Now and other pre-match reports, cross-checked against the sides that started against Real Madrid and Lazio respectively. Treat both as provisional.
Inter Milan
- Josep Martínez
- Akanji, Stones, Bastoni
- Diouf, Zieliński, Çalhanoğlu, Jones, Dimarco
- Lautaro Martínez, Francesco Pio Esposito
Out: Djed Spence (fitness). Dimarco is expected to return after missing the Madrid game with a minor problem. Chivu has flagged rotation in midfield and defence, with Akanji, Stones, Zieliński and Jones pushing for starts.
Udinese
- Okoye
- Abankwah, Kabasele, Ebosse
- Vojvoda, Karlström, Miller, Kamara
- Ekkelenkamp, Gómez
- Davis
Out: Zaniolo, Piotrowski, Solet, Palma, Arizala, Zanoli. Davis is expected to lead the line after assisting Karlström’s goal against Lazio.
Key Battle: Keinan Davis Against Inter’s Back Three
Strip the occasion away and this is a reasonably legible tactical question. Inter will have the ball, will spend long stretches in Udinese’s final third, and will ask their wing-backs to pin Udinese’s wide players. Udinese will sit in a compact 3-4-2-1, protect the middle with Jesper Karlström, and look to break into the space behind Inter’s defence.
The whole counter-attacking plan runs through Davis. He scored and assisted in this exact fixture last season, and his physicality is the one thing in Udinese’s armoury that really tests a back three — particularly one that may be rotated after Tuesday’s trip to Madrid. If Inter’s centre-backs handle him one-on-one, Udinese have very little left. If they do not, Udinese have a route.
Kit Note: Nerazzurri Stripes and the Friulani Change Colours
Inter’s 2026/27 range is one of the deepest in the shop: home in both the standard and player version, away, the kids’ home, the fourth shirt in a womens cut, and a long-sleeve goalkeeper version — plus last season’s third for anyone who prefers that colourway. Udinese are a much thinner selection, but the away and third shirts are the two most distinctive in their range and both are in stock. Here is what is available.
Inter Milan — home, away, third, fourth and goalkeeper
Swipe to browse 7 Inter shirts
Udinese — away and third
Swipe to browse 2 Udinese shirts
