Daily Times

Inter Milan head into a huge week with the Champions League and Milan derby looming large over Sunday’s trip to Monza, while the killing of a mobster revealed disturbing links between organised crime and the club’s hardcore supporters.

Italian champions Inter take on Monza hoping to maintain their early league lead but coach Simone Inzaghi is likely to rest some of his stars ahead of a much tougher trip to Manchester City in Europe’s top club competition.

Wednesday’s rematch of the 2023 final with City is the biggest of the revamped, eight-match league phase for Inter and comes days before the Milan derby.

Inzaghi’s team won last season’s Scudetto with five matches to spare by beating AC Milan, and Inzaghi will want all his first choice players fit for both City and next weekend which is a great chance to further hurt their local rivals. Inter are top of Serie A on goals scored ahead of Juventus, who are at Empoli on Saturday evening before Milan host Venezia at the San Siro, and also level on seven points with Torino and Udinese.

Milan already trail Inter by five points and also have Tuesday’s visit of Liverpool to contend with as a poor start has tested fans’ faith with new coach Paulo Fonseca.

Tammy Abraham is set to start his first match for Milan alongside former Chelsea teammates Fikayo Tomori and Ruben Loftus-Cheek as Alvaro Morata recovers from a thigh injury picked up on the opening day of the campaign. Meanwhile Rafael Leao and Theo Hernandez should return to Milan’s starting line-up after being dropped at Lazio, in the hope that both will be raring to go both against Venezia and Liverpool.