Inter duo at could miss Juventus clash following premature exits against Roma | OneFootball

On Sunday night’s big Serie A showdown, Inter escaped the capital with a 1-0 victory over Roma courtesy of Lautaro Martinez’s unstoppable strike. However, this important win came at a high cost, as Simone Inzaghi had to pull off two early substitutions.

In the 12th minute, Hakan Calhanoglu succumbed to injury, leaving his place to Davide Frattesi. The Turk apparently had a problem in his left adductor. Later in the first half, it was Francesco Acerbi’s turn to ask for a substitution due to a hamstring issue. The Italian veteran was thus replaced by Stefan de Vrij.

These were two untimely blows for the reigning Italian champions ahead of an over-packed month filled with important fixtures. Inter will travel to Switzerland for a Champions League clash against Young Boys, but more importantly, they will host Juventus next Sunday in the first Derby d’Italia of the season.

Il Corriere dello Sport notes that Inzaghi could be forced to do without two of his two key players in the battle against Thiago Motta’s men.

Calhanoglu and Acerbi will now undergo the necessary tests to determine the extent of their knocks. Inter will be hoping that the two players were taken off the pitch at the right instance before aggravating their conditions.

After the match, Inzaghi rued the lack of options in the middle of the park, as Piotr Zielinski and Kristjan Asllani were also missing.

“Today, I definitely had some problems in midfield because Zielinski and Asllani had issues,” noted the 48-year-old tactician.

“Hakan wasn’t feeling great, but yesterday, he trained in the finishing sessions and seemed fine.

“After the warm-up, he obviously felt the pain again, but we believe he managed to stop in the right time. It’s clear that with Asllani and Zielinski I would have had more choices in midfield.”