Inter Milan vs Porto – Betting Preview
Seven days after AC Milan narrowly edged Tottenham Hotspur in their round of 16 match, Inter, who came in second in the competitive three-horse battle to advance from Group C, will try to make lightning strike again for the Lombardy legends on the San Siro field.
Barcelona, Bayern Munich, and Inter competed for supremacy on the continent after Viktoria Plzen was written off before the first whistle and followed the script by earning zero points in the group.
The Nerazzurri would edge their Catalan rivals by three points to finish second behind a perfect Bayern.
Inter Milan Preview
Since securing their spot in the Champions League knockout stages for the second time in a row—Last Year’s path to triumph was interrupted at this stage by Liverpool—Inter have tried to slow down the Napoli juggernaut in Serie A, but their efforts have so far been ineffective.
The Partenopei’s nearest rivals are Inzaghi’s team, who are in second place in the standings, but Napoli hold a commanding 15-point lead over the 2020–21 champions.
At the weekend, Inter defeated Udinese 3-1 thanks to goals from Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Lautaro Martinez, and Romelu Lukaku in the black and blue, who scored just his second goal of the Serie A season 189 days after his first.
Victory over Udinese marked Inter’s 12th win from their last 13 contests at San Siro – during which time they have conceded a mere four goals – but a 1-0 loss to Empoli on January 23 proves that the Nerazzurri are not invincible at the San Siro fortress.
Porto Preview
When Porto, Atletico Madrid, and Bayer Leverkusen were put together in Group B, a similar three-way battle for spots appeared to be in the cards. Instead, Club Brugge upset the apple cart and took advantage of the weaknesses of the Spanish and German heavyweights.
After losing both of their first games, including a 4-0 thrashing at home to Brugge, Sergio Conceicao’s team was in a tough spot. However, they went on to win all four of their subsequent international matches to advance as group champions ahead of the unexpectedly strong Belgian team.
The incumbent Primeira Liga winners have been flawless at home over the past few weeks, winning each of their previous 10 matches across all competitions, but they are incredibly still trailing Benfica in the fight for the championship, who are two points ahead with a game remaining.
The Dragons’ unbeaten run across all competitions stands at a whopping 22 games since defeat to Benfica in October, and they have managed to progress from their last two last-16 ties in 2018-19 and 2020-21, but the defence of their historic 2004 crown ended with a 4-2 aggregate loss to Inter at this stage.
1×2 Betting Odds
Let’s analyse the 1×2 betting market.
Two of Europe’s tightest rearguards facing off should surely result in a tightly contested match, and Porto have shown grit and will to overcome adversity throughout their injury crisis.
Yet at the San Siro fortress, where Inzaghi’s team can dismantle the resolute Dragons backline and snap their visitors’ unbeaten run to take a slim lead to Portugal for the second leg, Conceicao’s mounting fitness problems may finally work against him!
Inter to win at home is a strong possibility backed by market odds @ 1.82.
So naturally, Porto are the underdogs in this @ 5.70.
The market odds of a stalemate stands @ 3.80.
Total goals over/under
Let’s analyse the over/under market.
The odds that the total number of goals scored will be over 2.5, stands @ 2.20.
While the odds that the total number of goals will be under 2.5, stands @ 1.78.
The market views this as a clash of tight affair, where perhaps the goal tally will remain under 2.5. and given the result odds, Inter should prevail at home.
