Inter Milan will deploy the same marking strategy against Romelu Lukaku as they had used against Man City striker Erling Haaland.
This according to today’s print edition of Turin-based newspaper Tuttosport, via FCInterNews.
There is little doubt about who Roma’s danger man will be when they face Inter tomorrow.
Particularly with players like Paulo Dybala and Lorenzo Pellegrini missing due to injury, Lukaku will certainly be the man the Giallorossi turn to for goals and threat in the final third.
And Inter will know better than anyone just how lethal the Belgian can be.
But Lukaku is hardly the first top striker that Inter have come up against.
In the Champions League final, the Nerazzurri came up against the outstanding young striker in European football at the moment – Manchester City superstar Erling Haaland.
And whilst Inter may have lost that match, they did keep the Norwegian quiet.
And according to Tuttosport, the Nerazzurri are planning to try and handled Lukaku in the same way.
The player who won the most plaudits for keeping Haaland in the Champions League final was veteran former Lazio and Sassuolo defender Francesco Acerbi.
And there was no doubt that the 35-year-old put in a very strong individual performance against the City striker.
But it was not just Haaland who paid close attention to Haaland.
Matteo Darmian and Alessandro Bastoni also had important jobs in marking the 23-year-old.
Neither was quite as focused on Haaland as Acerbi was. But there would always be one of them making sure to stay close enough to intervene and restrict the Man City striker’s movement.
Then there was also the work from the midfield.
Cutting off the supply line to Haaland was central to the defensive duties of Inter’s midfielders.
It will be the same against Lukaku tomorrow.
Tuttosport note that Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Hakan Calhanoglu in particular will be very attentive to preventing balls into the feet of Lukaku.