Inter Milan “very worried” about Bayern Munich

Mood check: how are we feeling about this one, Bayern Munich fans? Confident, like Manuel Neuer? Nervous? Positively quaking in one’s boots? Well — nerves are apparently ruling the day for the Nerazzurri faithful, according to Tz, citing some of the Inter Milan media world.

And who could blame them? The Champions League draw made Bayern’s Group C — also including més que un club FC Barcelona — a fearsome foursome, and any team that drops points in Wednesday’s opening clash will be under enormous pressure. From Tz:

“Here in Italy, we consider Bayern a very strong team in European football, one of the best teams in the world,” insists journalist Marco Macca, 32, of online medium FC Inter 08, part of newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport. “Inter is very worried about this game.”

If recent results are anything to go by, there’s legitimate cause for concern. Derby rivals AC Milan have scored ten goals in four games this season, a respectable third in Serie A — but three of them came last weekend in their win over Inter, whose eight goals conceded match their current place in the table, and ranks in the bottom half of the Italian league.

With a defensive reputation like that, Bayern Munich are perhaps the least savory of all the options. The Bavarians’ high-flying attack under Julian Nagelsmann has seen them roll over teams left and right, and even in their less explosive outings this season, they’ve battered the opposing goal with shot after shot after shot. Will the Inter keeper be up to the challenge? Or the defenders in front of him, for that matter? Again via Tz:

There is a big risk that Bayern can celebrate a goal festival.

“The defense has had a lot of gaps recently. The team has some difficulties against big teams. That means it has a mentality problem in important games,” Macca said. Especially the defensive stars Milan Skriniar (27), Stefan de Vrij (30) and Alessandro Bastoni (23) are not in top form, according to the Inter insider.

If this is indeed a test of mentality, that may only make things harder for the Italian side. Bayern are famous not only for their unrelenting aggression, but also for their record of taking it out on their next opponents after a past stumble. After a frustratingly low-energy draw to Union Berlin this past weekend, the time is indeed ripe for another Bayern scoring fest.

Can’t wait for game time to come? Yeah, us neither. Check out our Inter preview pod!

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