Chivu confident Inter can challenge in Champions League

Cristian Chivu believes his Inter side can still compete for the Champions League this season, despite a slow start to the campaign.

After defeats to Real Madrid and Club Brugge, Inter battled to a 1-0 win over Shakhtar Donetsk last time out, though Alessandro Bastoni was sent off in the victory.

Inter have lost their last two Champions League away matches, last having a longer away losing run between October 2018 and November 2019 (four in a row).

They have also only gone 1-0 ahead in two of their last nine Champions League games, but they have gone on to win both of those, losing the other seven.

However, ahead of a trip to Feyenoord, Chivu expressed his confidence in his Inter players.

"I believe in the work, in what this team is and what it has done so far. I'm confident. They're champions, and they've shown it," Chivu said.

"There have been negative episodes and mistakes that we have to learn from, accept and move past, trying to fix them. But I’m confident.

"We've always said that the Champions League, like the league, has to be played game by game. To get into the top eight, it's around 16 points.

"For now we've won one game and lost two, but we're still in it. We know what we are and what we want, and I'm convinced we'll have a great game."

The only previous meetings between Feyenoord and Inter in the Champions League came in 2024-25, with both legs of their last 16 tie won by Inter (2-0 away and 2-1 at home).

Inter lost their first-ever game against a Dutch opponent, versus Ajax in the 1972 European Cup final. Since then, they have not lost any of their 13 matches against Dutch sides in the European Cup/Champions League, winning 10 of them (D3).

Feyenoord have lost 10 of their last 13 major European matches, but their other three games have all been home wins.