When many of the European national championships have already ended or at least answered the biggest questions, a significant unknown remains in the Serie A. Who will take fourth place and get the last ticket to the Champions League?
At 9:45 PM in Rome tonight, Lazio and Inter Milan football players will face each other in the battle.
Situation
Currently, Lazio is in fourth place with 72 points, while Inter is in fifth with 69. Although Lazio has a better goal difference, it is not important in Serie A.
If the teams gather equal points, head-to-head results will be looked at. The first match between Lazio and Inter ended in a draw 0:0, which means that with a victory, Inter would jump into fourth place.
However, Lazio only needs a draw to play in the strongest club tournament next season.
Team News
Lazio will definitely be without injured Marco Parolo and Luis Alberto.
The biggest question mark is over one of the key players of the team - Ciro Immobile. The football player has recovered from an injury, but it is unclear whether he will be able to play in tonight's match.
Due to M. Parolo's absence, Sergejus Milinkovičius-Savičius may be forced to play lower in the midfield.
Inter's coach Luciano Spalletti can boast of having a full squad without any injuries.
However, Roberto Gagliardini, who recently recovered from an injury, may not be ready to play the full 90 minutes.
Team Form
Lazio hardly knows what a defeat is in Serie A. The last time the team lost in the Italian championship was back on March 3 when they lost 0:1 to Juventus.
Since then, they have had a series of 10 unbeaten matches. During this series, Lazio celebrated victories six times. They managed to defeat Fiorentina 4:3 and impressively crushed Benevento 6:2.
Meanwhile, Inter arrives at this match with a completely different form. The Milan team has lost three times in their last eight matches. They lost 0:1 to Torino, 2:3 to Juventus, and last week they succumbed 1:2 to Sassuolo.
Predicted Starting Lineups
Lazio: Strakosha; Caceres, Luiz Felipe, Radu; Marusic, Murgia, Lucas Leiva, Milinkovič-Savič, Lulic; Felipe Anderson; Immobile
Inter: Handanovič; Cancelo, Skriniar, Miranda, D’Ambrosio; Gagliardini, Brozovič; Candreva, Rafinha, Perisič, Icardi
Interesting Facts
The Inter team will try to return to the Champions League after a four-year break. Back in 2010, Inter triumphed in the CL with Jose Mourinho.
If Mauro Icardi wins, he should make his debut in the Champions League next season. He is also one goal behind the league's top scorer C. Immobile.
Stefano de Vrij, who is set to join Inter from Lazio next season, is expected to play in this match.
In their last eight head-to-head matches, the teams shared three victories each and played twice to a draw.
Lazio lost at home twice in the last three meetings with Inter.
Inter has not lost away from home this season to a team in the top half of the table.
In the last match of the season, these teams have met three times (1935, 2002, 2012) and Lazio won all three matches.
