As both sides begin preparations for their return to action in 2023, Italian giants Inter Milan and Austrian champions Red Bull Salzburg play out a friendly encounter in Malta on Wednesday.
Convening at Tony Bezzina Stadium, the clubs - who once met in the UEFA Cup final - are visiting the Mediterranean island for a short training camp, featuring players not involved in the World Cup.
Match preview
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Following a mixed start to their 2022-23 campaign, Inter's plans to move into serious Scudetto contention and progress further in the Champions League start with this week's trip south from Milan, which lasts until Friday.
Though without several stars due to injury or their ongoing participation in Qatar, coach Simone Inzaghi has named a 27-man squad to focus on fitness ahead of Serie A's restart in January.
A strong Inter XI started against Gzira United on Monday night and eased to victory over limited opposition in their first fixture since mid-November, when they broke for the World Cup with a 3-2 defeat of Atalanta.
The squad sent to Valletta comprises some first-team regulars and primavera products, but the Nerazzurri will nonetheless be aiming to pick up the momentum they were building by battering Bologna 6-1 and then edging out La Dea in that five-goal contest.
Set to face Real Betis, Reggina and Sassuolo later in Serie A's long winter break, Inter will return to competitive action with a crucial clash against league leaders Napoli, so - already 11 points adrift - can ill afford to start slowly.
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Now meeting the club that ended their dreams of European silverware in the two-legged UEFA Cup final of 1994, when they lost both games 1-0, Salzburg are also undertaking a warm weather camp in Malta.
The perennial Austrian champions only have a small handful of players away in Qatar, so star striker Benjamin Sesko - strongly linked with a Premier League move last summer - is among the squad this week. Coach Matthias Jaissle has also included several prospects from feeder club FC Liefering, where he was formerly manager.
Since their takeover, the Red Bull-funded outfit have brought through Erling Haaland among many others, and they fielded the youngest starting XI on average in this year's Champions League group stage (22 years and 279 days). Therefore, impressing against Inter opens up a real opportunity to progress.
On their return to Austria, they will enjoy a winter break before resuming in 2023, when they kick off some six points clear at the top of the Bundesliga.
Without defeat in 16 matches before losing to Chelsea at the end of October, Die Roten Bullen were aiming to reach the Champions League knockout stages for the second successive season, but were thumped 4-0 by Inter's arch-rivals Milan in the final round of fixtures.
As a result of finishing third in their group, Salzburg will soon go toe-to-toe with Roma in the Europa League, but more immediately they tackle another Italian heavyweight in much more relaxed surrounds.
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While Simone Inzaghi does not have those players selected for international duty available to him, a strong Inter squad has made its way to Malta. Milan Skriniar, Alessandro Bastoni and Edin Dzeko were in the side which beat Gzira United 6-1 on Monday, but a number of men remain missing for various reasons.
Joaquin Correa was ruled out of contention for Argentina's World Cup challenge by an Achilles tendon injury and is still sidelined; joining Matteo Darmian and Danilo D'Ambrosio in skipping this week's trip.
Though both departed Qatar early, Romelu Lukaku and Andre Onana will only report back next weekend Saturday after returning from holiday.
Salzburg, meanwhile, should feature regulars such as Maximilian Wober and Slovenian striker Benjamin Sesko - the latter an international teammate of Inter captain Samir Handanovic - but the Austrians' travelling party is diminished by numerous injuries.
Squad members including Fernando, Lucas Gourna-Douath, Oumar Solet and Andreas Ulmer are all yet to return, so Matthias Jaissle has selected several young guns, such as Karim Konate and Lukas Wallner.
Croatia's Luka Sucic and Swiss stars Philipp Kohn and Noah Okafor are understandably unavailable too, with Sekou Koita and 19-year-old Roko Simic among the contenders to fill in for Okafor up front.
Inter Milan possible starting lineup:
Handanovic; Skriniar, Acerbi, Bastoni; Bellanova, Calhanoglu, Barella, Gosens; Asllani, Mkhitaryan; Dzeko
Red Bull Salzburg possible starting lineup:
Mantl; Dedic, Bernardo, Pavlovic, Wober; Seiwald, Kjaergaard, Diambou; Adamu; Koita, Sesko
We say: Inter Milan 2-2 Red Bull Salzburg
Given the nature of their meeting, the priority will be for both squads to gain form and fitness, so the outcome could be an open encounter featuring at least a couple of goals for either side.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Jonathan O'Shea
