Champions League
2025-03-11 - Inter Milan vs Feyenoord
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
Football: UEFA Champions League Last 16 Second Leg
Tuesday 11th March 2025 - Kick Off 8pm
This game is live on TV
Inter Milan
Historically Italian clubs have tended to place a lot more stock in winning the domestic title compared with the European Cup, but the top teams from Italy have always been strong challengers in the top UEFA run competition. The race for the title is set to go down to the wire for Inter Milan this season with a single point lead over Napoli, but they are still very keen on trying to win the Champions League for the first time since 2010.
Two years ago Inter Milan were narrowly beaten by Manchester City in the Champions League Final, but they are trying to make up for a premature exit twelve months ago. The strong win in Rotterdam in the Champions League Last 16 First Leg has put Inter Milan in a dominant position in the tie, especially as they are unbeaten in 13 home Champions League games. The side have won 5 in a row at the San Siro in this competition.
Inter Milan are unbeaten in 5 games in all competitions since losing in Turin to rivals Juventus, while they have won 4 of those fixtures with the exception being a 1-1 draw in Naples. They will be looking for a seventh home win in a row in all competitions after beating Monza here this past weekend.
The squad is still dealing with several injuries, but Inter Milan were able to rest some key players in the win over Monza ahead of this Second Leg.
Feyenoord
The main domestic ambition for Feyenoord is chasing down Utrecht to finish behind rivals Ajax and PSV Eindhoven, while there will still be some hope that they can rally and prolong their stay in the Champions League. Losing 0-2 at home last week has made things very tough for Robin van Persie's team and they will be well aware that their second visit to the San Siro in the space of three weeks is going to be much more difficult.
In the Play Off Round, Feyenoord were able to take advantage of a wasteful AC Milan and the tie really moved in favour of the Dutch club when Milan were reduced to ten men in the Second Leg. On that occasion Feyenoord had something to protect when visiting this Stadium, but there is a different test for them in this Second Leg with a two goal deficit to bridge. The side have only lost 1 of their 5 away Champions League games, but Feyenoord have failed to win any of their last 3 on their travels in this competition.
Feyenoord have won 1 of their last 5 games in all competitions and upsetting the odds here looks a mountain to climb. Failure to win any of their last 6 away games in all competitions does not offer much encouragement for the visiting team and Feyenoord have lost half of those fixtures.
A host of players are missing through injury and the Feyenoord squad is stretched.
Head to Head
Feyenoord won the only previous tie between themselves and Inter Milan in the UEFA Cup back in 2002.
The fixture at the San Siro ended 0-1 in favour of Feyenoord in April 2002.
Prediction
It would take a pretty big upset for Feyenoord to turn this Champions League tie around and they will have to play much better than they did when last visiting the San Siro.
The final score might say 1-1 when Feyenoord played against AC Milan, but they were being comfortably outplayed until the home team were reduced to ten men. That swung the momentum in favour of Feyenoord, a team who also had a lead in that Play Off Round tie after the First Leg and this time they have a two goal deficit to make up.
Scoring once against Inter Milan would feel like an achievement, never mind twice, and that would also mean containing a team that have won 6 home Champions League ties in a row.
Keeping clean sheets has formed the basis of the successes Inter Milan have had this season and they can certainly contain the Feyenoord threat much as they did in Rotterdam in a tough atmosphere.
Feyenoord have played pretty well away from home in the Champions League, but they have rarely played a team as strong as Inter Milan. Recent domestic form is not offering much more encouragement and the Italian Serie A leaders can win this one with a clean sheet to earn comfortable passage into the Champions League Quarter Final ahead of a big League game at Atalanta.
The Statistics :
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The Pick :
Inter Milan 2-0 Feyenoord
