Inter visit Bologna without Lautaro Martínez, out for seven matches

Inter travel to Bologna on Saturday (18:00 Italian time) without captain Lautaro Martínez, who will miss seven matches with a left hamstring strain. Tests at the Humanitas institute in Rozzano on Thursday confirmed the injury, which he sustained in Tuesday's 4-3 Champions League defeat to Club Brugge at San Siro.

Seven games without the captain

The Argentine is expected back only after the November international break. Besides Bologna, he misses the Champions League games against Shakhtar and Feyenoord and the league matches against Fiorentina, Venezia, Como and Milan, whose derby with Inter is on 31 October. Barring surprises, Sky Sport Italia expects him back for Atalanta-Inter on 22 November.

Lautaro has four league goals this season, braces against Napoli and Roma, and scored twice against Brugge. He has a poor record at the Dall'Ara: it is the Serie A stadium where he has played the most minutes without scoring (483), and all five of his league goals against Bologna came at San Siro.

Inter after the Brugge defeat

Cristian Chivu's Inter top Serie A on 16 points, level with Lazio, with 18 goals in six games. In Europe they have no points from two matches. "We had too much frustration and frenzy, so we lost our distances and balance," the coach said after the match, adding that everything spun out of control once Brugge went 2-1 up. "Between Serie A and the Champions League everything is different in intensity and technical quality."

Il Messaggero and Eurosport expect Francesco Pio Esposito to replace Lautaro alongside Marcus Thuram. A win would give Inter 19 points from seven games for only the fourth time in the three-points era, after 1997/98, 2002/03 and 2017/18; they did not win the Scudetto in any of those seasons.

Bologna without Orsolini

Bologna, 14th on five points, earned their first league win of the season last weekend under new coach Raffaele Palladino, 2-1 at Lecce, after a draw with Torino. Riccardo Orsolini opened the scoring with an acrobatic finish and Jay Enem got the winner, but Orsolini injured his right hamstring late on and is out for three weeks. Emil Holm is a long-term absentee, while Arthur Theate and Samuel Mbangula are back in training after missing the Lecce game with knocks.

A balanced fixture

The last nine Serie A meetings are split evenly, three wins each and three draws, the latest a 3-3 at the Dall'Ara on 23 May. According to Eurosport, Bologna are unbeaten in four of their last five home league games against Inter, but since last December they have conceded 26 goals at home, the most in Serie A. Inter have alternated a draw and a win in each of their last seven league away games; the latest was a 2-2 at Roma.