As the first international break of the season draws to a close, the return of domestic action is just around the corner and Serie A returns with a derby della Madonnina. Here’s a look at how Inter and Milan’s international representatives got on over the last two weeks.
Between the two sides, 27 players represented their respective nations during the break. 15 of them play for Inter, while 12 belong to Milan.
The Nerazzurri representatives collected a combined 1662 minutes for their countries, compared to the 1304 minutes earned by the travelling Rossoneri players.
Only one Inter player, Alessandro Bastoni, played for two full sets of 90 minutes during the break, although Nicolo Barella was not far behind him, coming off after 84 minutes of Italy’s most recent game against Ukraine. Federico Dimarco also started both matches, but collected a total of 140 minutes across two games.
Elsewhere, Denzel Dumfries has a fantastic time away with the Netherlands, providing all three assists in his nation’s 3-0 win over Greece. He started the next game against the Republic of Ireland, too, earning a total of 175 minutes from two matches.
Among Inter’s other most used players during the international break were Kristjan Asslani, who played 139 minutes for Albania, Hakan Calhanoglue, who played 135 minutes for Turkey and Marko Arnautovic, who played 117 minutes for Austria.
Davide Frattesi, Marcus Thuram, Yann Sommer and Alexis Sanchez all got a full 90 minutes into their legs, while Lautaro Martinez got 82 minutes for Argentina. Benjamin Pavard played 70 minutes for France against Germany, while Stefan de Vrij played for 45 minutes against Greece.
For Milan, five players spread across four different nations played for a maximum 180 minutes. Those were France duo Mike Maignan and Theo Hernandez, as well as Denmark’s Simon Kjaer, Bosnia’s Rade Krunic and Yunus Musah of the United States.
Christian Pulisic also started twice for the USA, but was brought off at half-time in their most recent win over Oman.
The talismanic Rafael Leao also started twice for Portugal, although he was not able to get on the scoresheet during the goalfest against Luxembourg on Monday night.
Tijjani Reijnders made his debut for the Netherlands against Greece, before coming on as a substitute again against Ireland for a total of 70 minutes over the international break.
Cameo appearances were also handed to Samuel Chukwueze, who notched Nigeria’s sixth goal against Sao Tome, as well as Noah Okafor, who got 15 minutes for Switzerland and Luka Jovic, who got four for Serbia.
Nice summary. The stars really doing well. Internationally, Serie A players perform better compared to other members of the top 5 European leagues.