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Torino will find it hard to replace Immobile and Cerci

Last year's best scorer of Serie A left Torino, and it's a matter of time when Cerci will follow his lead, which means problems on offense for Ventura

Both Torino and Inter managed to get into Euro League groups on Thursday, but had no time to celebrate as they face each other in the first round match of the Serie A. Ventura's team struggled against the compact Split team, managing to score just one goal in two matches, from a penalty. After playing attractive football last year, lead by the brilliant forward duo Immobile-Cerci, Torino don't seem to have found proper substitutes for them. Unlike Immobile who left to Borussia Dortmund, Cerci has not left yet, but Ventura is not counting on him.

Ventura commented on the European success speaking before the Inter match:
- This is a big achievement for us, and we're very proud to have come from Seria B to playing in Europe in three years. We now have to focus on Inter, who are in great shape, and this will be an extremely difficult game.

Ventura called in 20 players for this match, and apart from Cerci, suspended Vives and injured forward Barreto will also be missing the Inter match. It's assumed Ventura will once again set up a 3-5-2 formation he used in the Split matches, and that Larrondo will join Quagliarella on offense.

Inter dispatched the weak Icelandian Stjarnan in two matches, but coach Mazzarri can be extremely happy with what the performance of the team, as the players forming the backbone of the team in the new seasons played great. In the away math the best player was the newly arrived Brazilian back Dodo, while the return bout saw forwards Osvaldo and Icardi flash, along with the fantastic Kovačić, who scored his first goals since his arrival to Inter.

Mazzarri spoke of the unpleasant Torino away match:
- Torino are a good team with a good coach and will bea  real test for us. I want to see how we react in the first match for three points after a nice preparation period. Apart from the three top ranked teams from last season, there are four more teams read to surprise. The championship race will be even closer than last year, so it's important to have continuity.

Inter are still active in the market, and Mazzarri badly wants to bring in a wing forward since Palacio is struggling with an injury. Lavezzi is the one Mazzarri really wants, and Borini was also mentioned recently. On the other hand, there are rumors that midfielder Guarin will leave the club, and the fact he is not among those selected to play confirms that.

Inter have not lost against Torino in any of their ls 22 matches, and mostly won them as well - especially at the Olimpico. As we could already see both teams in the Euro League qualifiers this season, one gets the impression the tradition will continue. Inter seem like a well assembled team, Mazzarri got rid of the last few 'old hands' (Cambiasso, Zanetti, Samuel, Milito), and set up a team after his liking - a tough, fighting squad with two destructives (Medel and M'Villa) and organizers (Kovačić, Hernanes) on midfield, and two excellent forwards (Icardi, Osvaldo). Torino on the other hand seem to be doing very well on defense, but one can tell they'll be missing Immobile and Cerci on offense. As their forward Barreto will not be playing either today, this could be felt even more. Inter should demonstrate to Torino that they plan to get back to the very top of Seria A this season.