INTER MILAN

League position: 1st
Head coach: Simone Inzaghi
Top-scorer: Lautaro Martinez (11)

HOW THEY GOT HERE

Inter reached the quarter-finals by the skin of their teeth, with Andrea Ranocchia’s 91st-minute strike sending their round of 16 meeting with Empoli into extra-time, before Stefano Sensi salvaged a 3-2 victory during that additional 30 minutes.

The reigning Serie A champions slipped up in their league defence at the weekend, beaten by city rivals AC Milan in what was only their second top-flight defeat of the campaign.

Jose Mourinho's side similarly only entered the Copa Italia in the last-16 due to their involvement in the Europa Conference League.

Their first Italian cup outing of 2021-22 ended in far more routine fashion, with Marash Kumbulla, Tammy Abraham and Eldor Shomurodov all finding the back of the net in a 3-1 win over Lecce.

Possible Inter line-up

(3-5-2)

Handanovic; Skriniar, De Vrij, Bastoni; Dumfries, Barella, Brozovic, Calhanoglu, Perisic; Dzeko, Martinez

DANGER MAN
Lautaro Martinez

The Argentine has helped put any worries over Romelu Lukaku's departure to bed, romping to 11 Serie A goals in 21 appearances already this term.

Martinez is an all-round striker - intelligent, quick and ice-cold in front of goal.

All that and more have made him into one of the most feared strikers in Europe and he is undoubtedly one of the best in the business on his day.

With that said, a blank in the last-16 means he’s without a goal in the cup so far, while his form against the Giallorossi is poor.

CUP HISTORY

Roma have lifted the Italian cup on nine occasions, which makes them the second most successful club in the competition's history behind 14-time champions Juventus.

The Giallorossi's most recent cup successes came courtesy of back-to-back wins in 2006-07 and 2007-08 under Luciano Spalletti.

Meanwhile, Inter have lifted the Copa Italia seven-times, with their last success in 2010-11.

These two sides have met on 21 previous occasions in the cup, with seven Roma wins to Inter's 12 and each team beating the other in the final once - Roma emerging with the trophy with a 2-0 win over Inter in 2007-08 and the Nerazzurri claiming glory over the Giallorossi in 2009-10.

PLAYER STATS

• Mourinho was in the Inter dugout when the men from Milan beat their Roman rivals to the trophy in 2010, forming one of the three titles that the Portuguese supremo lifted in a famous treble that season.
  
• Tammy Abraham is the highest-scoring Englishman across Europe's top-five leagues in all competitions this season with 17 goals.
  
• Edin Dzeko made 260 official appearances for Roma, scoring 119 goals. Only Francesco Totti (307) and Roberto Pruzzo (138) have scored more for the club in its illustrious history.
  
• Martinez has gone 364 minutes without scoring or providing an assist against Roma, which is the longest drought of his Inter career.

WHAT THEY SAID

"I think we played as we normally do; with strength, courage, and dominance. We need to forget about the latter part of the game and we need to analyse where we went wrong and why. We took risks where we shouldn't have and consequently we were punished.

"Now we turn our attention to Roma in the Coppa Italia, then after that it's Napoli and Liverpool. The games come thick and fast; we need to look at where we've gone wrong and then move on. We're already thinking about our next game."

- Inter captain Samir Handanovic after his side's derby defeat