After kicking off their Champions League campaign with an impressive draw at Manchester City, Inter will be looking to secure their first win of the league phase when they face Red Star Belgrade on Tuesday night.

Inter were excellent at the Etihad Stadium on Matchday 1 despite Simone Inzaghi leaving several key players out of his starting XI.

They should have taken a second-half lead when Matteo Darmian raced in behind, but the Italian opted for a not-so-clever backheel instead of shooting at goal. Ilkay Gundogan then missed two great headed opportunities late on after Inter had stifled their hosts.

While many still regard the Nerazzurri as the best team in Italy, their start to the new campaign hasn’t been particularly convincing and they’re going to have to work incredibly hard to retain their crown this season.

Red Star Belgrade, meanwhile, were beaten at home by Benfica to start their league phase campaign. Once a great force in this competition, Red Star, like many Eastern European outfits, have struggled for relevancy on the biggest stage over the past 20 years.

They have, however, enjoyed a great start to their domestic season in Serbia, recently thumping bitter rivals Partizan 4-0 away from home.

Here’s 90min’s preview of Tuesday’s Champions League fixture in Milan.

Inter vs Red Star Belgrade H2H Record (All Games)

Current form (all competitions)

Nicolo Barella missed Inter’s victory over Udinese at the weekend due to a thigh injury and the midfielder is expected to miss out again on Tuesday.

Inzaghi has options in reserve, though, with Piotr Zielinski likely to start alongside Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Hakan Calhanoglu in Inter’s midfield three.

The hosts otherwise don’t have many notable injury concerns. Canadian wing-back Tajon Buchanan remains sidelined with a ligament injury.

Inter predicted lineup vs Red Star Belgrade (3-5-2): Sommer; Pavard, Acerbi, Bastoni; Dumfries, Zielinski, Calhanoglu, Mkhitaryan, Dimarco; Taremi, Martinez.

Ognjen Mimovic is set to miss the trip to Milan with a foot injury, while Vladimir Lucic is a long-term absentee with a knee issue.

Rade Krunic returns to his old stomping ground having joined Red Star in the summer. The former Milan midfielder won the Scudetto with the Rossoneri in 2022 and made over 100 Serie A apperances for Inter’s great rivals.

Red Star Belgrade predicted lineup vs Inter (4-2-3-1): Glazer; Seol, Djiga, Spajic, Rodic; Krunic, Elsnik; Silas, Ivanic, Milson; Ndiaye.

There may be a few teething issues with this Inter team at the moment but they’ve won nine of their previous 13 home Champions League matches and are far superior to their upcoming opponents.

Lautaro Martinez returned to the scoresheet in Udine at the weekend, so he’s surely in for a hot scoring run. The visitors are bound to get in Inter’s faces and at least attempt to make life difficult for the hosts, but it’s hard to envisage anything but a relatively calm Inter win.

Prediction: Inter 2-0 Red Star Belgrade

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