Champions League: Man City v Inter Milan preview & betting tips

Ladbrokes shares its preview, betting tips and predictions for Man City v Inter Milan on Wednesday evening in the Champions League, a repeat from 2023's final.

To win their first Champions League title just over a year ago, Man City beat Inter Milan in Istanbul, and the two sides meet again in the opening game of the 2024/25 campaign.

With Liverpool taking on AC Milan at the San Siro on Tuesday night, it's City who play at home against Inter Milan, with both sides hoping to kick off their 24/25 season with a seriously impressive win.

So, without further ado, join Ladbrokes as our team of experts share their preview, betting tips and predictions for the big Man City v Inter Milan game in the Champions League.

The opening of the 2024/25 Premier League season couldn't have gone any better for Man City, with Pep Guardiola's side winning all four of their opening games, something that neither of their title rivals Liverpool or Arsenal have managed.

Erling Haaland has scored nine goals in just four games. For context, that means that if he continues his current rate of scoring, he'll end the season with a truly staggering goal return of over 85.

However, in the form of Inter Milan, City have their hardest fixture of the season so far, and the big European game comes just a few days before Guardiola's side travel to London for a huge Premier League match against Arsenal.

Inter Milan have dominated Serie A for the last 12 months, but they haven't started this season in quite the same electric form. Lautaro Martinez and co might be undefeated in the Italian top-flight, but they've only won two of their four games, a drawing the rest.

Like City, Inter too have a huge domestic league game at the weekend, as they take on AC Milan, so in a sense both sides will likely have their own on next games, no matter what both managers will say in their respective pre-match press conferences.

The bookies do have Man City are the favourites on Wednesday evening, but Inter Milan have still been given a 17% chance of walking away with all three points, with a draw at 23%, so an upset could well be on the cards.

Rodri hasn't started a game for either club or country since the Euro 2024 final against England in July, but he's expected to play the majority of the game against Inter Milan, given that Pep will want him match fit for Arsenal on Sunday.

Phil Foden also hasn't started for City this season, but he seems a fair bit away from being deemed ready for play a full 90 minutes, so it's more likely that the Englishman comes off the bench in the Champions League on September 18.

Rico Lewis' performances this season have been incredibly impressive, so some are calling for him to start over the far more experienced Kyle Walker at the Etihad Stadium, but whether that's what Pep Guardiola's goes for remains to be seen.

As for long-term absentees, Nathan Ake and Oscar Bobb are both out of Wednesday's game, but it's unclear whether Guardiola would have considered starting either even if they were fit.

Like City, Inter have a pretty clean bill of health for the game this week, with only Tajon Buchanan missing following an injury which was sustained while the versatile winger was playing for Canada over the summer.

Alessandro Bastoni, Hakan Calhanoglu and Nicolo Barella are all expected to return to the XI for the game, having missed the last domestic league outing.

Possible starting line-ups:

Man City - Ederson; Lewis, Dias, Stones, Gvardiol; Rodri, Gundogan, De Bruyne; Bernardo, Savio, Haaland

Inter - Sommer; Pavard Acerbi, Baston; Dumfries, Calhanoglu, Barella, Mkhitaryan, Dimarco; Thuram, Martinez

As noted, Man City are the favourites heading into their game with Inter Milan, just as they are for the competition as a whole, and we've gone for a win for Guardiola's side in our gameweek one Champions League 2024/25 acca.

However, the game isn't going to be totally smooth sailing for City, and we predict that they'll concede at home to Inter on Wednesday night, as they have done in 75% of their league games this season.

City have shipped goals to Ipswich, Brentford and West Ham on route to victory this season, all of whom have significantly weaker attacks than Inter, so we're predicting that both teams find the back of the net on September 18.

As noted, Haaland is in electric form domestically this season, and is fast approaching ten goals in the Premier League this campaign, despite only having played four games.

We're also expecting the big Norwegian to do what he failed to do in the 2023 Champions League final, and that's find the back of the net against Inter Milan, opening his UCL goalscoring account for the season in the process.