ANKARA
Italian Serie A side Inter Milan will take on Spanish La Liga club Atletico Madrid in the UEFA Champions League Round of 16 first-leg match on Tuesday.
Last season’s runners-up Inter can reach the 300-goal threshold in the Champions League if they score twice in the match.
“Atletico are a fantastic team, and they have been playing at a high level for several years,” said Inter head coach Simone Inzaghi, adding: “It will be a great pleasure to see Diego Simeone again. He was a fantastic team-mate, and I always knew he would make a great coach.”
Atletico manager Diego Simeone will experience his 100th Champions League game as a coach against Inter Milan, where he spent two years as a midfielder, before hanging his boots.
“It will be a very difficult tie. Inter are extraordinary at the moment. I like how they play. Last year, they went on a great journey in this competition. I still have wonderful memories of my time in Milan,” said Simeone about Nerazzurri.
Inter Milan’s Kristjan Asllani, Lautaro Martinez, and Henrikh Mkhitaryan will miss the next match if they receive a yellow card in the first leg.
Samuel Lino is the only player in the Atletico squad in danger of missing the next match if he receives a yellow card.
The first and only previous European club football encounter between the two sides was in the 2010 UEFA Super Cup, when UEFA Europa League winners Atletico beat European champions Inter 2-0 at the Stade Louis II in Monaco on Aug. 27, 2010.
Champions League Round of 16 first-leg fixtures
Tuesday:
Inter (Italy) – Atletico Madrid (Spain)
PSV Eindhoven (Netherlands) – Borussia Dortmund (Germany)
Wednesday:
Porto (Portugal) – Arsenal (England)
Napoli (Italy) – Barcelona (Spain)
