Inter Milan v Monza

Serie A returns on Saturday 22 August and the champions open it. Inter host Monza at San Siro at 18:30 local time, one of two fixtures given the early Saturday slot. For Inter it is the first defence of the title. For Monza it is a return to the top flight at the first attempt after relegation, and a first fixture that could hardly be less forgiving: the reigning champions, away, in a stadium that holds 75,000.

Matchday one — no competitive Serie A form for either club this season. Inter are the reigning Italian champions; Monza spent last season in Serie B.

BRYME has not been able to source a head-to-head record for this pairing from an aggregator we trust. Rather than publish a number we cannot stand behind, we are leaving it out until we can verify it.

Monza's promotion came through the Serie B play-offs and it was decided on the finest of margins: the tie finished 2–2 on aggregate, Monza having won the first leg 2–0 before losing the return 0–2, and they went up on the strength of their superior regular-season finish. Paolo Bianco's side therefore arrive at San Siro as a club that has already survived one occasion this year that could have gone either way. Venezia and Frosinone came up automatically.

Monza are heavy underdogs and the fixture list has given them the worst possible opening. But there is a version of this that works for them: promoted sides are at their most dangerous before anyone has scouted them properly, and a champion's first game of a season is often its least fluent. Monza will not win by playing well. They might avoid losing badly by being difficult.

BRYME expects Inter to win and expects it to look more comfortable in the second half than the first. Opening days are rarely the finished article, even for champions.

Inter 3–0 Monza