Inter Milan vs Urawa Red Diamonds Tips, Predictions and Bet Builder

Having been routed 5-0 by Paris St-Germain in the UEFA Champions League final and then losing their influential manager Simone Inzaghi a few days later, Inter Milan must have been thinking things couldn't get much worse. 

Of course, in football, they always can. The Nerazzurri were held to a frustrating 1-1 draw by Monterrey in their Club World Cup opener, highlighting the immense job new boss Cristian Chivu has ahead of him.

The Romanian needs to pick his side up and get them back to their brilliant best soon. Luckily, they face a poor Urawa Red Diamonds side in Seattle on Saturday, marking the perfect opportunity to reignite some confidence throughout the squad.

Inter Milan vs Urawa Red Diamonds Tips Summary

Market	Tip	Odds
Match Result	Inter Milan	2/11
Best Bet	Inter Milan to win to nil	5/6
Bet Builder	Inter Milan half-time/full-time, Lautaro Martinez to Score, Stefan de Vrij over 0.5 headed shots on target	16/1

Key Match Stats

• Three of Inter Milan's final four Serie A matches saw them win without conceding

• Inter have lost just one of their last eight matches

• Urawa Red Diamonds have won just won of their last five games

• The Reds lost their Club World Cup opener 3-1, with all three of River Plate's goals coming via headers

• Urawa managed just 0.32 non-penalty expected goals in that defeat

Inter Milan vs Urawa Red Diamonds Prediction

Best Bet: Inter Milan to win to nil @ 5/6

Inter Milan's draw with Monterrey was far from ideal, but it was perhaps not the complete humiliation some have exaggerated it to be.

The Mexican side are in the hunt for second in their domestic league and have experienced players like Sergio Ramos, Sergio Canales and Lucas Ocampos.

Urawa Red Diamonds' players are nowhere near that level and Inter should find things far more straightforward against the J-League side, who have won just one of their last five matches.

Inter won three of their final four Serie A matches without conceding and should have no issues in shutting out Urawa, who accumulated just 0.32 non-penalty expected goals in their loss to River Plate.

Jamie Griffith explains:

Inter were poor against Monterrey, but Urawa have nowhere near as much quality as the Mexican side and should be brushed aside by the UEFA Champions League runners-up with relative ease.

Inter Milan vs Urawa Red Diamonds Bet Builder Tip

• Inter Milan half-time/full-time

• Lautaro Martinez to Score

• Stefan de Vrij over 0.5 headed shots on target

  Pays 16/1

The obvious starting point for a bet builder is some form of Inter win, with the double result making most appeal. The Nerazzurri were leading at half-time in each of their last seven victories and can repeat the trick against Urawa. 

Another standout pick for a bet builder is for Inter's star man, Lautaro Martinez, to find the net. The Argentinian scored the first goal of the Chivu era and should enjoy himself against a Urawa defence which gifted River three goals last time. 

All three goals Red Diamonds shipped in that opener came via headers, meaning it could pay to back an Inter centre-back to test Urawa’s goalkeeper at a big price.

Stefan de Vrij could be drafted in as Chivu rings the changes and the big Dutchman, who scored three goals in 18 Serie A starts, can guide an effort towards goal with his head.

Learn more about how Bet Builders work in our Bet Builder guide.

Jamie Griffith adds:

Inter should have no issues in dominating from start to finish and Lautaro Martinez is usually heavily involved, whole you can boost the bet builder by backing the Nerazzurri to exploit Urawa's aerial weakness.

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Tactics, Form and Team News

Inter Milan will be without Hakan Calhanoglu, Yann Bisseck, Piotr Zielinski, Davide Frattesi and Denzel Dumfries through injury as well as Iranian forward Mehdi Taremi, who cannot travel to the US.

Chivu stuck with Inzaghi's 3-5-2 system in his first match as Inter boss and may continue to do so. Expect changes following the draw with Monterrey, though, with the swap of Sebastiano Esposito out for his brother Francesco Pio up front the most interesting likely switch.

Expected Inter Milan line-up (3-5-2): Sommer; Pavard, De Vrij, Bastoni; Darmian, Barella, Sucic, Mkhitaryan, Augusto; Esposito, Martinez.

Kai Shibato remains Urawa's sole absentee, but head coach Maciej Skorza may still ring the changes after a disappointing performance against River Plate.

The Pole should stick with his trusted 4-2-3-1 system, but may look to bring in Takahiro Sekine, Taishi Matsumoto and Takuya Ogiwara from the start after their solid cameos off the bench against River.

Expected Urawa Red Diamonds line-up (4-2-3-1): Nishikawa; Ishihara, Boza, Høibråten, Ogiwara; Yasui, Gustafson; Kaneko, Watanabe, Savio; Matsuo.

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This article was written by a partner sports writer via Spotlight Sports Group. All odds displayed on this page were correct at the time of writing and are subject to withdrawal or change at any time.