Inter vs Shakhtar at San Siro on Wednesday 21 October is a pressure game for a team that's top of its league. Cristian Chivu's Inter lead Serie A, yet they've lost both league phase matches and four Champions League games in a row, which has never happened to the club before. Arda Turan's Shakhtar arrive top of the Ukrainian Premier League and unbeaten in Europe.
Kick-off is 21:00 in Milan, 22:00 in Kyiv, 20:00 in the UK and 3pm ET in the US.
Inter Milan
Shakhtar DonetskHow did the Serie A leaders lose four in a row?
By conceding. Inter have let in six in two European games: Kylian Mbappe and Federico Valverde scored in a 2-1 win for Real Madrid, then Club Brugge won 4-3 at San Siro on 13 October, Nicolo Tresoldi scoring a hat-trick before Romeo Vermant added a fourth. That run of seven defeats in their last eight Champions League games also takes in the 5-0 final against PSG in 2025 and both play-off legs against Bodo/Glimt last season.
At home they look like a different team. They beat Parma 3-0 before the Brugge game, have 18 goals in six Serie A matches, and sit top on 16 points, level with Lazio but ahead on goal difference.
After Brugge, Chivu didn't hide from it. "I can't say it's not worrying; obviously, we have things we need to re-evaluate," he told Sky Sport Italia. "I must be the first to take responsibility." He said his side "lost our balance". I'd expect a more careful setup here, with Hakan Calhanoglu, back from a knock, asked to protect the defence as much as run the game.
San Siro (Stadio Giuseppe Meazza). Photo: Prelvini, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Lautaro against a defence that has frustrated him before
Lautaro Martinez scored twice against Brugge and still lost, which says plenty about Inter's autumn. The captain is doing his job.
He has history with Shakhtar too. His two goals in the 5-0 Europa League semi-final win in Dusseldorf in 2020, alongside two from Romelu Lukaku, are still the high point of this fixture for Inter. Since then Shakhtar have been very hard to break down: three of the four Champions League meetings finished 0-0. Inter have won two of the five meetings in all, with three draws, and Shakhtar have never beaten them. The last one was a 2-0 Inter win on 24 November 2021.
Shakhtar will stay compact and try to stop him turning in the box. If they manage that for an hour, San Siro will get restless.
The space behind Dimarco
Federico Dimarco is fit again and has started recent games. Inter's attack leans heavily on his crossing and set pieces, but every time he goes forward he leaves a gap.
Shakhtar are set up to use it. Kaua Elias leads the line and will try to pin Inter's centre-backs, with Alisson and Gleiker Mendoza running from the flanks. Mendoza scored in first-half stoppage time at PSV before Sergino Dest equalised for a 1-1 draw. A quick centre-forward who attacks the channels is exactly the profile that has hurt Inter this season, so Chivu has a trade-off to make: push both wing-backs on and risk the counter, or sit them deeper and give Lautaro less service.
Turan's Shakhtar won't sit back
Turan has built this side to attack. They reached the Conference League semi-finals last season, losing to Crystal Palace, and have won three league games in a row, most recently 3-0 at Veres. They host AEK Athens on 14 October. I don't see them treating San Siro as a damage-limitation trip.
Shakhtar have been without Eguinaldo and Irakli Azarov, and Elias, Alisson and Mendoza look like the front three. Inter are missing Curtis Jones, out for around three weeks with a muscle problem, and John Stones. Calhanoglu and Dimarco should start with Lautaro up front, and Inter play at Bologna on Saturday first. Line-ups and stats will be on the UEFA match page.
Inter MilanShakhtar DonetskOur Inter vs Shakhtar prediction
Inter have the better players, home advantage and an unbeaten record against Shakhtar. They also concede far too easily in Europe, and Shakhtar have the pace to punish that. I'll go Inter 2-1, Lautaro scoring again and the losing run ending, though I wouldn't bet the house on a calm last ten minutes.
As a Wednesday game it's on TNT Sports in the UK rather than Prime Video. You can also watch Inter vs Shakhtar free on our Champions League live streams page with no account, or through the Inter Milan live stream page. Inter's league games are on the Serie A streams hub, and Spanish speakers have Champions League en vivo.
