Inter Vs Slavia Prague: No Guest Gap Wins

JAKARTA - After a brilliant victory in the first week, last season's finalist, Inter Milan, will continue their work in the Champions League on Wednesday, October 1, 2025, early morning WIB, hosting Slavia Prague at Giuseppe Meazza.

In the Nerazzurri's first European match since being humiliated by Paris Saint-Germain in the 2024/2025 Champions League final, they proved too tough for Ajax earlier this month. Hakan Calhanoglu twice became creator of Marcus Thuram's goal at the Johan Cruyff Arena.

After the success in the Champions League, the Italian giant began his recovery from a slow start in Serie A by winning two consecutive league wins.

Cristian Chivu's troops suffered a shock defeat against Udinese (1-2) before losing three points in their 3-4 defeat at Derby d'Italy against Juventus. However, the latest results have solidified their position.

After defeating the hard-to-beat team, Sassuolo, the Nerazzurri then beat Cagliari in Sardinia, where Lautaro Martinez scored his 12th goal in 12 games against Rossoblu.

Their young star, Francesco Pio Esposito, began to show off by scoring his first goal in Serie A. Inter also had a golden opportunity that hit the post twice against the Calgiari.

So, with their domestic performance heading in the right direction, Chivu's team will have to try to continue the same trend in Europe.

Unbeaten in the last 16 Champions League games at Giuseppe Meazza - won 13 times since the 0-2 defeat to Bayern Munich three years ago - Inter will certainly have qualified provisions.

Ahead of the match against Slavia, they also recorded clean-sheets in all Champions League matches, except for one, of their last 10 group or league stage matches - although most of them were under former coach Simone Inzaghi.

This will be the third meeting between Inter and Slavia. The previous two meetings took place in the 2019/2020 group stage when Slavia Prague only won one point.

Slavia slipped at home against a team that was both less seeded, Bodo/Glimt, and failed to win in stoppage time despite winning two goals in the Champions League opener.

Slavia have never won a European level match in Italy, losing in seven of their eight attempts so far.

The only draw came against Inter (1-1) at the Giuseppe Meazza six years ago, when they were thwarted by Nicolo Barella's equalizer in stoppage time.

The hosts will rely on the figure of Lukas Provod. He provided two passes to El Hadji Youssoupha Mbodji to score against Bodo/Glimt in the first match of the Champions League this season.

The problem is, despite releasing 26 shots in the game - a new club record - Slavia conceded two goals in the last 12 minutes and had to settle for a draw.

However, before the league's win over Dukla Prague (2-0) on Saturday, September 27, 2025, they were unbeaten in 13 games in all competitions and last failed to score in April 2025.

Jindrich Trpisovsky's side are in second place in the Czech Republic League, just one point adrift of their old rival, Sparta, but they often failed to keep the performance on the European stage.

Slavia have not only lost their last three away games in Europe without scoring, they have also won no win in dozens of Champions League games since their debut win in 2007.

Inter should have a complete squad to choose from as captain Lautaro Martinez has recovered from a back injury that left him out earlier this month.

As the Nerazzurri's mainstay on their way to the second straight final in the Champions League, the Argentine striker scored on Sunday, September 28, 2025 WIB, and he also scored twice against Slavia Prague in 2019.

Esposito and Thuram are also competing to start up front. Denzel Dumfries, Federico Dimarco, and Petar Sucic will seek to regain their place in midfield that is already familiar with five players.

Veteran goalkeeper Yann Sommer recently lost his place and was replaced by Josep Martinez, but the change could still happen.

Meanwhile, Slavia will lose Dominik Javorcek, Igoh Ogbu, Petr Sevcik, and key defender Tomas Holes, all of whom were injured.

Good news for head coach Trpisovsky, club captain Jan Boril is back on the bench on the weekend.

Tomas Chory scored both goals against Dukla in the last game and he is expected to rejoin Provod in attack, but Mojmir Chytil and Slovakian winger Ivan Schranz are also competing for a place in the first team.

Formation Forecast

Inter Milan: Josep Martinez; Akanji, Acerbi, Bastoni; Dumfries, Barella, Calhanoglu, Sucic, Dimarco; Martinez, Thuram

Slavia Prague: Markovic; Doudera, Chaloupek, Zima, Mbodji; Zafeiris, Dorley; Kusej, Cham, Provod; Chory