Inter v Urawa Red Diamonds: Line-ups, stats and preview

Inter will target their first win of the 2025 Fifa Club World Cup when the Serie A giants face three-time Asian champions Urawa Red Diamonds in Seattle on Saturday.

The Champions League finalists began their campaign with a 1-1 draw against Mexican side Monterrey at a half-full Rose Bowl.

“I’m not looking for excuses, but right now we have little energy,” said new Inter coach Cristian Chivu, describing his squad as suffering from “a physical and mental condition that is far from optimal”.

“It was still a good performance. We created many chances. We made mistakes in our finishing and in the final pass and lacked a bit of hunger in front of goal.

“We did everything we could to win. We tried to defend aggressively… it’s a shame we didn’t manage to take the three points.

“We could have done better – especially in the second half, we were slow. But I prefer to underline the team’s commitment.”

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Urawa lost 3-1 to Argentinian side River Plate in their opener in Seattle, winger Yusuke Matsuo scoring a second-half penalty to briefly make the scoreline 2-1.

“I don’t think we need to show too much respect to our opponents,” Matsuo said, adding that Urawa “can do better” and need to “switch gears” against Inter.

“We had prepared counter-measures against our opponents, but we struggled to execute them for about the first 20 minutes.

“After that, we were able to control the game a little better. Just when we were gradually getting into our rhythm, we conceded the second goal, which was painful.

“Especially in the second half, we were able to control the game and create chances. There were moments that gave us confidence that we can do [that more].”

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Inter v Urawa Red Diamonds team news

Inter lost wideman Denzel Dumfries to a muscle problem shortly before their opener, while forward Marcus Thuram came on as a second-half substitute before sustaining a hamstring injury.

Thuram replaced Sebastiano Esposito, who missed a good chance during a game to forget for the 22-year-old, but the academy product and his 19-year-old brother, Pio Esposito, could be Chivu’s only attacking options, particularly if he wants to rest Lautaro Martinez, whose goal earned Inter a point.

Chivu switched from 3-5-2 to experiment with 3-4-1-2 and 3-4-2-1 shapes during the second half against Monterrey and fans will be keen to see how the Romanian’s tactics look against Urawa.

Maciej Skorza will be tempted to change his starting XI, although the Pole rued how conceding early goals had a “very strong impact on the mentality of the team”, calling that element “the hardest thing to train”.

“The team put in a lot of effort and did a great job, but the way we started wasn’t how we expected,” Skorza added. “We played better in the second half, but the way we conceded was not good.”

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Inter v Urawa Red Diamonds expected line-ups

Inter starting XI: Sommer; Darmian, Pavard, Acerbi, Bastoni, Carlos Augusto; Asllani, Barella, Mkhitaryan; Esposito, Lautaro Martinez

Urawa Red Diamonds starting XI: Nishikawa; Naganuma, Danilo Boza, Hoibraten, Ishihara; Yasui, Gustafson; Kaneko, Matheus Savio, Watanabe; Matsuo.

How to watch Inter v Urawa Red Diamonds: TV and online streams

Kick-off on Saturday is at 20:00 BST, with free live coverage on Channel 5 in the UK.

John Obi Mikel, Sami Khedira, Ronaldo, Christian Vieri, Shay Given, Callum Wilson, Andros Townsend, Ade Oladipo, Kelly Somers and Fabrizio Romano are among the pundits and presenters.

The co-commentators are Andros Townsend, Michael Brown, Brad Friedel, Rob Green, Danny Higginbotham, Don Hutchison, Jonas Olsson and Anita Asante.

A highlights and analysis show, The Press, will be presented by James Alcott and Julien Laurens and analyse each day’s games on 5’s streaming service.

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