Manchester City vs Inter facts

Matchday 1 of the 2024/25 UEFA Champions League brings a repeat of the 2023 final as Manchester City welcome Inter to north-west England.

City claimed their first European Cup with victory against the Nerazzurri in Istanbul two seasons ago and now begin their attempt to regain the trophy with a fixture against the same opponents.

While the English side have reached the knockout rounds in the last 11 seasons – and the quarter-finals or better in all of the last seven – Inter are making their seventh successive Champions League appearance, although that 2022/23 campaign is the only time they have progressed to the last eight or further since 2010/11.

Previous meetings

2023 UEFA Champions League final
Manchester City 1-0 Inter Milan
City claimed their first European Cup with a narrow victory at the Atatürk Olympic Stadium in Istanbul, Rodri scoring the only goal of the game in the 68th minute.

That was the sides' first meeting and the first time since Liverpool beat Inter's city rivals AC Milan on penalties in 2005, in the only other Champions League final staged in Istanbul, that the two finalists had never previously met in UEFA competition.

Form guide

Manchester City

Record vs Italian clubs: W7 D5 L4 F27 A18
Home record vs Italian clubs: W4 D3 L1

The 2023 final against Inter was City's last game against Italian opponents.

Pep Guardiola's side last faced a Serie A side in Manchester in the 2019/20 Champions League group stage, beating Atalanta 5-1 at home on Matchday 3; they subsequently drew 1-1 away.

A 2-1 win against Napoli in the 2017/18 Champions League group stage was City's first in five home games against Serie A sides (D3 L1) before their victory against Atalanta; a 1-2 defeat against Juventus in September 2015 is their sole home reverse against Italian visitors.

Although City have won four of their last five games against Serie A sides, drawing the other, they have only five victories in their last 13 matches with Italian clubs (D5 L3).

This is City's 14th successive season in the Champions League proper; they have featured in every campaign since 2011/12 and have reached the knockout stages in each of the last 11.

Having claimed the club's first Champions League title in 2022/23, Pep Guardiola's side won all six group games for the first time last season to finish six points clear of Leipzig in the standings. That was the seventh successive season in which City had come first in their group.

City then brushed past Copenhagen in the round of 16 (3-1 a, 3-1 h) but lost an epic quarter-final against eventual champions Real Madrid (3-3 a, 1-1 h, 3-4 pens) – the third season in a row in which they had faced the Spanish side.

The Cityzens are unbeaten in 31 home European matches (W28 D3) since a 1-2 loss to Lyon on Matchday 1 in 2018/19, winning 22 of the last 24. That 31-match run without a home defeat is an English club record in the Champions League, overtaking Arsenal's 24-game sequence from September 2004 to April 2009.

City scored three goals in their first nine games in last season's competition – the first team to do so in the Champions League.

Guardiola's side claimed a fourth successive Premier League title in 2023/24 – a new English record – but lost to neighbours Manchester United in the FA Cup final to miss out on what would have been a second successive double.

Inter

Record vs English clubs: W16 D4 L15 F43 A42
Away record vs English clubs: W5 D1 L11

Like City, Inter have not faced Premier League opponents since the 2023 final.

Inter's last game in England was a 1-0 win at Liverpool in the 2021/22 Champions League round of 16 second leg, although that was not enough to prevent an aggregate elimination after a 0-2 home loss in the first game.

That win at Liverpool was Inter's first against an English club outside Milan since a 1-0 victory at Chelsea in the 2009/10 Champions League round of 16 (2-1 h) and ended a run of four successive defeats.

Inter have seven wins in their last 13 games against Premier League opposition, losing the other six.

This is the Nerazzurri's 18th appearance in the Champions League, and a seventh in succession.

Runners-up to City in the 2023 final – Inter's most successful Champions League campaign since lifting the trophy in 2010 – Simone Inzaghi's side were second behind Real Sociedad in Group D in 2023/24 but were then edged out by Atlético de Madrid in the round of 16 (1-0 h, 1-2 a, 2-3 pens).

That was the second time in the last three seasons than Inter's campaign had foundered in the round of 16.

Inter have managed only eight victories in their last 22 away Champions League games (D6 L8) although they have won six of the last 13.

Champions of Europe in 1964, 1965 and 2010, Inter claimed their 20th Serie A title in 2023/24, finishing 19 points clear of runners-up AC Milan. It was their first championship since 2021 and only a second in the past 14 seasons.

Links and trivia

Mateo Kovačić played for Inter between 2013 and 2015, scoring five goals in 80 Serie A games.

Have played together:
İlkay Gündoğan and Henrikh Mkhitaryan (Borussia Dortmund 2013–16)

Have played in England:
Henrikh Mkhitaryan (Manchester United 2016–18, Arsenal 2018–19)
Matteo Darmian (Manchester United 2015–19)
Marko Arnautović (Stoke 2013–17, West Ham 2017–19)

International team-mates:
Nathan Aké & Denzel Dumfries, Stefan de Vrij (Netherlands)
Manuel Akanji & Yann Sommer (Switzerland)
Rodri & Josep Martínez (Spain)
Ederson, Savinho & Carlos Augusto (Brazil)

Guardiola finished his playing career in Europe with spells at Brescia (2001/02, 2003) and Roma (2002/03).

Inzaghi scored in Lazio's 5-0 win against Guardiola's Brescia on 4 November 2001. Lazio were also 3-1 winners in Rome against Brescia on 17 May 2003, the penultimate game of Guardiola's European playing career.

One of Guardiola's three Serie A goals was a penalty for Brescia in a 2-1 defeat away to Inter on 14 April 2002.

Latest news

Manchester City

Pep Guardiola's side have four wins from four in this season's Premier League, scoring 11 goals and conceding only three.

Nine of those goals have been scored by Erling Haaland, including hat-tricks in wins at home to Ipswich (4-1) and at West Ham (3-1).

Haaland got two more on Saturday as City came from behind to beat Brentford 2-1, setting a new Premier League record for the most goals after four games.

That was Haaland's 50th appearance for City at the City of Manchester Stadium; he has 59 goals and 11 assists in those games.

The Norwegian has already scored six more goals than any other player in the 2024/25 Premier League – indeed, no other team bar City has scored more goals collectively than Haaland individually.

Haaland has eight hat-tricks in just 70 Premier League games – and 72 goals in the competition overall.

Brentford had taken the lead after just 22 seconds on Saturday, the first time City have conceded in the first minute in a home Premier League game.

City started the season by beating Manchester United 7-6 on penalties in the FA Community Shield after a 1-1 draw on 10 August.

On 6 September Kevin De Bruyne scored twice in Belgium's 3-1 UEFA Nations League win against Israel.

The following day, Jack Grealish got England's second goal in a 2-0 win away to the Republic of Ireland.

Haaland scored a late winner as Norway beat Austria 2-1 on 9 September.

Nathan Aké is facing several weeks on the sidelines after being carried off on a stretcher in Netherlands' 2-2 draw against Germany on 10 September.

Phil Foden has not played since 18 August due to illness, although he was an unused substitute on Saturday.

Savinho started on Saturday having been sidelined by a knee problem since 24 August.

Oscar Bobb suffered a leg fracture in training on 14 August.

Inter

On Sunday Inter needed a late equaliser from substitute Denzel Dumfries to rescue a 1-1 draw at Monza.

That extended the Nerazzurri's unbeaten start to the Serie A season (W2 D2) with nine goals scored and three conceded.

Marcus Thuram scored four of those goals – two in a 2-2 draw at Genoa on 17 August and the others in a 4-0 win against Atalanta on 30 August.

The France forward hit 13 league goals in 2023/24, but never more than one in a game.

Matteo Darmian and Hakan Çalhanoğlu, a penalty, scored in a 2-0 home win against Lecce on 24 August. Çalhanoğlu has converted 17 penalties out of 17 in Serie A.

On 6 September Federico Dimarco and Davide Frattesi both scored in Italy's 3-1 UEFA Nations League win against France in Paris. Frattesi also found the net in the 2-1 win against Israel three days later.

Dumfries scored in Netherlands' 2-2 draw against Germany on 10 September.

Mehdi Taremi scored the only goal of the game as Iran defeated Kyrgyzstan in 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying on 5 September.

Tajon Buchanan has missed the start of the season with a fractured fibula.