Facts and figures ahead of Inter vs. Ludogorets
Team
— Feb 25th 2020The Nerazzurri take to the pitch on Thursday at 21:00 CET at San Siro
MILAN – Inter will take to the pitch in the Europa League round of 32 second leg against Ludogorets behind closed doors on Thursday 27th at 21:00 at San Siro. The Nerazzurri came away from the first leg in Razgrad with a 2-0 victory thanks to goals from Eriksen and Lukaku. Below are some stats and facts about Thursday’s game in collaboration with Opta.
Inter are unbeaten against Bulgarian teams in European competitions (with three wins and three draws in the previous six matches). The Nerazzurri have only played Ukrainian opponents more times (eight) without losing.
Ludogorets have lost all of their last three matches against Italian teams in European competitions without scoring a goal.
After winning the first leg, Inter have qualified for the next round in 17 of the previous 18 knockout matches in the Champions League and UEFA Cup/Europa League; the only exception was against Villareal in the Champions League quarter-finals in 2005/06.
Inter kept a clean sheet against Ludogorets in Razgrad: in only two of their previous six Europa League knockout matches have the Nerazzurri not conceded in both the first and second leg; these were against Cluj in 2012/13 and Rapid Vienna 2018/19.
Ludogorets have won only one of their nine Europa League knockout matches (2D, 6L), with the success coming in their first of those matches after a 1-0 win against Lazio in 2013/14.
Ludogorets only attempted one shot in the first leg against Inter: previously, the last team to not attempt two or more shots in a Europa League home game was Dudelange, in December 2018 against Real Betis (only one shot).
Overall, for Inter it was the first time in 15 years that they had not suffered more than one shot in a Champions League or Europa League match (excluding qualifiers).
Thanks to his 95th minute penalty and his assist for Christian Eriksen in the first leg, Romelu Lukaku has taken part in more goals than any other Inter player in the Champions League and Europa League this season with six contributions (three goals and three assists).
Between Everton and Inter, Romelu Lukaku has scored eight goals in the Europa League knockout phase, only three players have done better since 2014/15: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (10), Alexandre Lacazette (14) and Kevin Gameiro (16).