Inter vs Leverkusen Europa League preview: where to watch, team news

Leverkusen take on Inter in the UEFA Europa League quarter-finals in Dusseldorf on 10 August at 21:00 CET.

Where to watch the game on TV

Fans can find their local UEFA Europa League broadcast partner(s) here.

The teams

Internazionale Milano (ITA)
UEFA ranking: 45
Domestic position: 2 (final match: 1 August)
Last five games: WWWDD
How they got there: UEFA Champions League group stage, 4-1 Ludogorets (R32), 2-0 Getafe (R16)
Last season: round of 16 (L vs Eintracht Frankfurt)
Quarter-final record: P9 W7 L2 (most recent: 2003/04, L vs Marseille)
Previous UEFA Cup/Europa League best: winners (1990/91, 1993/94, 1997/98)

Leverkusen (GER)
UEFA ranking: 23
Domestic position: 5 (final match: 27 June)
Last five games: WLWLW
How they got there: UEFA Champions League group stage, 5-2 Porto (R32), 4-1 Rangers (R16)
Last season: round of 32 (L vs Krasnodar)
Quarter-final record: P4 W2 L2 (most recent: 2007/08, L vs Zenit)
Previous UEFA Cup/Europa League best: winners (1987/88)

Possible line-ups

Inter: Handanovič; Godín, De Vrij, Bastoni; D’Ambrosio, Barella, Brozović, Gagliardini, Young; Lautaro Martínez, Lukaku
Out: Vecino (knee)

Leverkusen: Hrádecký; L Bender, S Bender, Tapsoba, Sinkgraven; Demirbay, Baumgartlinger; Bailey, Havertz, Diaby; Volland
Out: Amiri (quarantine), Aránguiz (suspended)
Doubtful: Bellarabi (unspecified)

Reporters' views

Paolo Menicucci, Inter reporter: Inter arrive on the back of five consecutive clean sheets and no shortage of confidence. Romelu Lukaku is the first Inter player to score at least 30 goals in all competitions in a season since Samuel Eto’o hit 37 in 2010/11. Antonio Conte is finally extracting a certain degree of consistency from a team which lacked it for most of the season and has plenty of options on the bench to turn a game around. The bar is always higher but Inter have the potential to keep jumping over it.

James Thorogood, Leverkusen reporter: Leverkusen’s 1-0 win against Rangers came at a costm with Charles Aránguiz suspended for the tie with Inter. Peter Bosz will have to compensate if Bayer are to stand a chance of upsetting the odds in Düsseldorf in order to reach the semi-finals of this competition for the first time since 1994/95.

What the coaches say

Antonio Conte, Inter Milan coach: "Moving forward in Europe is very important and represents an opportunity to gain experience. I'm calm when I see the guys with this aggression, with this desire and determination. The squad is continuing to improve and we are becoming a tough team. I see everyone participating in the project, happy with what we do."

Peter Bosz, Leverkusen coach: "Our playing philosophy is that we want to play attacking football, offensive football, attractive football, to score a lot of goals. That's our vision. In general, Italian teams defend really well. On the other hand, Inter are a different team: they try to press high and build up from the back. They’re not playing long balls. It gives us a certain opportunity."

What's next

The winners of this tie will face Shakhtar or Basel in the semi-finals on Monday 17 August in Dusseldorf, with the final in Cologne four days later.