How to watch Inter vs Real Madrid on TV

Reigning Italian champions Inter host Real Madrid, Europe's most successful men's club side, in the opening round of Champions League group stage matches on Wednesday evening.

These legendary establishments duked it out at this stage of last season's competition - Madrid won home and away - but a raft of key figures on both sides from that thrilling sequence will be missing come midweek. Alongside the pair of new managers, Romelu Lukaku and Sergio Ramos are just two of the high profile departures that took place at both Inter and Real during the off-season.

Here's 90min's preview of the big game.

How to watch Inter vs Real Madrid TV/live stream

When is it? Wednesday 15 September, 20:00 (BST)
Where is the match being played? San Siro
TV channel/Live stream? BT Sport Extra 2 (UK), TUDN (US)
Referee? Daniel Siebert
VAR? Marco Fritz

Inter team news

Stefano Sensi writhes in pain during Inter's 2-2 draw away to Sampdoria / MARCO BERTORELLO/Getty Images

The Nerazzurri were forced to finish Sunday's 2-2 draw against Sampdoria with ten men due to injury rather than ill discipline (unlike their last meeting with Madrid which saw Arturo Vidal take an early bath). Stefano Sensi couldn't hobble on until the final whistle and is highly unlikely to feature on Wednesday.

Federico Dimarco also departed early but was only suffering from cramp. The goalscoring defender was granted a starting berth in place of the prodigiously talented Alessandro Bastoni who remains a doubt for the mid-week encounter.

Real Madrid team news

Under the manager that brought him to Real, Gareth Bale started Madrid's first three games of the season but won't be featuring in mid-week / Soccrates Images/Getty Images

After three consecutive starts to begin the campaign, a hamstring issue will rule Gareth Bale out of this one and could keep him on the sidelines for a few weeks.

Dani Ceballos remains out with his ankle injury, while Toni Kroos (hernia), Ferland Mendy (leg) and Luka Jovic (stomach) are all unlikely to feature as well.

Carlo Ancelotti must also make a decision about which formation to deploy. A firm believer in the 4-3-3, he switched to a 4-4-2 against Celta Vigo and watched his side fire home five goals and ship two, so he could choose to stick with it for this one.

Inter vs Real Madrid predicted lineups

Inter: Handanovic; Skriniar, De Vrij, Dimarco; Dumfries, Barella, Brozovic, Calhanoglu, Perisic; Martinez, Dzeko

Real Madrid: Courtois; Carvajal, Militao, Nacho, Gutierrez; Valverde, Modric, Casemiro, Vinicius; Benzema, Hazard

Inter vs Real Madrid head-to-head record

These two giants of the European game (unevenly) share 21 continental trophies, facing each other no fewer than 17 times across the Champions League, UEFA Cup and Cup Winners' Cup. Despite Madrid's status as European royalty, it is a strikingly even head-to-head record, with Los Blancos boasting eight wins to Inter's seven and two draws apiece.

44 years after first lining up against the black and blue stripes at San Siro, Real Madrid recorded their only victory on foreign soil against Inter in last season's Champions League.

Inter vs Real Madrid prediction

Karim Benzema (left), who scored against Inter last season, has begun the current campaign with five goals in four games / Soccrates Images/Getty Images

Both clubs, demand success at every turn but find themselves in a transitional periods as they learn to live life without a cluster of crucial figures. In this embryonic stage of the season, each side has shown flashes of fluency between expected and understandable spells of adaptation.

However, Inter have unquestionably been left with greater chasms throughout their setup and were beaten home and away by a Real side that are still very much inspired by the timeless Karim Benzema who could well haunt the Nerazzurri once more.

Prediction: Inter 1-2 Real Madrid

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Inter vs Real Madrid: TV channel, live stream, team news & prediction

By Grey Whitebloom | Sep 13, 2021