(Football news) Upon their return to Serie A, Lecce face a very tough task as they welcome Inter Milan to Stadio Via del Mare. Last season Lecce won the Serie B championship as they will entertain a Nerazzurri side that are intent on reclaiming the Scudetto in the 2022-23 campaign, after narrowly missing out on the Scudetto to AC Milan in May. The former Lazio manager's first season brought two trophies as they won the Supercoppa Italiana and the Coppa Italia, on each occasion they got the better of Juventus to lift the trophy.
Over the summer, Inter made some big moves in the summer as they brought in Romelu Lukaku back to the club, following his dismal time at Chelsea and now the Belgian striker will form a potent partnership with Lautaro Martinez. Milan Skriniar has been retained despite strong interest from Paris Saint-Germain, Inzaghi's revolution seems set to gather pace, but Inter's pre-season form has been inconsistent before the competitive action begins this weekend. In the recent preseason match they lost to La Liga outfit Villarreal as the Nerazzurri have won only once in five warm-up games; conceding 10 goals in the process. Nevertheless, Inter have won each of their last three opening fixtures in Serie A and are unbeaten in 11 against newly-promoted sides in the league.
Lecce possible starting lineup:
Falcone; Gendrey, Blin, Dermaku, Gallo; Bistrovic, Hjulmand, Askildsen; Ceesay, Strefezza; Di Francesco
Inter Milan possible starting lineup:
Handanovic; Skriniar, De Vrij, Bastoni; Dumfries, Barella, Brozovic, Calhanoglu, Dimarco; Martinez, Lukaku
After winning their Scudetto in May for the first time in over a decade, AC Milan set to kick off their title defence against Udinese on Saturday evening. San Siro will host the champions' competitive debut for the 2022-23 campaign, with the Rossoneri under pressure to start with a win. Stefano Pioli was the architect of a largely youthful side as he was guided by a handful of veterans, that helped the former Lazio boss win his first major trophy after many years of coaching in the Italian league
Pioli managed to win the Scudetto on a tight budget and despite his success last term, he banked from a long-overdue Champions League campaign at San Siro. Influential midfielder Franck Kessie left the club to join the revolution at Barcelona while Zlatan Ibrahimovic will be out of action until next year after knee surgery. In response, Maldini and co have sanctioned the signings of Liverpool's Divock Origi and another Belgian star Charles De Ketelaere.
Milan still have a thinner squad than their title rivals Inter and Juventus while Roma are building a deeper squad this season for Jose Mourinho. Nonetheless, pre-season has progressed smoothly as they warmed up for their title defence by winning four of five preseason fixtures, scoring 17 goals in the process. AC Milan have lost only one of their last 10 league matches against Udinese, so they start as strong favourites to get the new campaign off to a successful start.
AC Milan possible starting lineup:
Maignan; Calabria, Kalulu, Tomori, Hernandez; Bennacer, Krunic; Messias, Diaz, Leao; Giroud
Udinese possible starting lineup:
Silvestri; Perez, Bijol, Masina; Soppy, Pereyra, Walace, Makengo, Udogie; Deulofeu, Success
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