Simeone Inzaghi’s Inter Milan hosting Arteta’s Arsenal is the headliner for this week’s UCL fixtures, no doubt. The experienced Italian has revolutionised some of the key concepts of football and created his own identity/brand of football at Inter Milan.
When and Where?
Date: 6th November 2024, Wednesday
Time: 8:00 PM BST.
Venue: San Siro Stadium
Match Officials
Referee: Istvan Kovacs, HUN.
Assistants: Ferenz Tunyogy HUN, Mihai Marica HUN.
Fourth Official: Horatiu Fesnic, HUN.
VAR: Christian Dingert, GER.
Assistant VAR: Catalin Popu, ROM,
Below, let’s analyse the Italian giants’ playstyle and some of their most influential players that will face Arsenal.
Platforming his side to a 3-5-2, Inzaghi has managed to strike the perfect balance of rotations and profiles to his side. Freedom in rotations helps Inzaghi channel his players to their preferred positions, creating patterns that are difficult to read (def + mid).
In buildup, when Inter Milan holds possession, they manage to focus on the maximisation of space—rotations that are subtle but change the whole buildup. This buildup pattern helps them find gaps between the opposition defenders, exploiting half spaces.

Inter Milan manages to position their players in spaces that are determined by the defensive patterns of the opposition. Patience in buildup + using the GK as a CCB to push your defender higher + looking for patterns to play the ball higher up the pitch.
Out of possession, they are compact and look to cover the width of the pitch to stop wing progression. Press high with the attacking players > once in their own half; they overload zones and man-mark opposition tightly.
Inzaghi has built a heritage in Italy, accumulating some of the best individual talents—showcasing fluidity and balance when played together.
Key Players
Lautaro Martinez, Argentina
27 | CF | 5’9
The Inter Milan captain has been in some superb goalscoring form and has managed to influence Inter’s result time in time out. A lethal finisher who’s very good at channel running and finding quick combinations around the pitch will be the gunman for the Italian side.
Alessandro Bastoni, Italy
25 | CB | 6’3
Being the leader of Inter’s reliable back 3, Bastoni’s character is more of an aggressive press magnet to the opposition. Physically pressurising + duel winner + a sweet left foot that can spray long passes to break the last line of defence.
Federico Dimarco, Italy
26 | LB/LM | 5’9
Dimarco has excellent crossing accuracy and almost always has the ability to pick out the right pass from wider areas. His positional awareness and quick movements to attack space are a huge reason for how he spams early crosses into the box.
Hakan Calhanoglu, Turkey
30 | CM/DM| 5’10
The Turkish powerhouse plays in the heart of midfield, giving Inzaghi stability on and off the ball. Essentially, Hakan utilises the most of his creative IQ in order to lay first-time passes higher up the pitch whilst also indulging in pass and move situations.
Dynamic Duos
Thuram x Martinez
One of Europe’s most phenomenal and striking partnerships is cruising in terms of goals/assists this season. While one drops deep to link up play, the other sits in an advanced position as a target man, trying to find those creative passing lanes.
Dimarco x Dumfries
Inter Milan’s wingbacks play a role that hardly any of Europe’s top teams can recreate. In order to find them and edge past the opposition team’s markings, they look to overload on one flank before very quickly switching play and delivering an early cross.
Conclusion
Arsenal would need to vary the danger they possess. Winning second balls, having a compact defensive line, and not creating much space out of possession will help the Gunners dominate proceedings. Nonetheless, we expect a cracker of a game!