Kick-off: 2000, 14/03/2023
Stadium: Estadio do Dragao
TV: BT Sport
Inter Milan will take a 1-0 lead to Porto following a hard-fought first leg of this finely-balanced Champions League tie at the San Siro.
The Dragons can take heart from having knocked out Roma and Juventus at this stage in recent years, but we feel the Nerazzurri have the nous to qualify.
Punters can get 13/5 for a draw in the return fixture and that is our initial Porto vs Inter Milan prediction.
Dragons still very much a threat
Inter came close to breaking the deadlock on the stroke of half-time in Italy when Alessandro Bastoni flicked on a near-post corner, but Diogo Costa made a fine reactionary save.
After the interval, Andre Onana pulled off an amazing double save to thwart Zaidu Sanusi and Mehdi Taremi.
A second yellow card for Otavio on 78 minutes then put the pressure on Porto and the Nerazzurri took advantage late on.
Substitute Romelu Lukaku headed against the woodwork but was alert enough to fire in the rebound and give his side a precious advantage.
Costa did well to keep out another effort from Lukaku soon after and hopes his team can turn things around on home turf.
“When you give everything, it’s painful losing like this,” said the keeper. “We showed our personality and we will do the same in the second game.”
Porto recovered from losing their first two group games to rattle off four straight wins and are a solid second in Liga Portugal bwin.
This contest could be cagey early but should open up as it goes on, so 21/10 for both teams to score in the second half appeals from the Porto vs Inter Milan odds.
Camp Nou stalemate augurs well
Inter fans will be concerned by a poor away record in Serie A this season, with six of their 13 road games ending in defeat.
That includes losses at Bologna and Spezia since the opening encounter with Porto, but the Nerazzurri may have been distracted by this trip.
Simone Inzaghi was pleased with Inter’s narrow win in Italy, stating: “We played an excellent game against a physical and technical opponent.
“We had to build better and faster, but our opponents were ferociously pressing us. We had to raise the pace when circulating the ball.”
Inter were no match for Bayern Munich during the group stage but showed they can travel well by drawing 3-3 away to Barcelona and beating Czech outfit Viktoria 2-0 in Plzen.
The Dragons will come at them, so 17/5 for a score draw is probably worth the extra risk for our Porto vs Inter Milan betting tips.
However, the Nerazzurri have a wealth of experience in their squad and enough pace on the counter to come through this tricky test.
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