Chivu's Inter face a Champions League math problem at De Kuip
Cristian Chivu says Inter remain in contention for the Champions League last 16 despite back-to-back setbacks, with a trip to face Feyenoord arriving straight after a derby defeat to Milan.
Cristian Chivu says Inter are “still in the race” for the Champions League knockout rounds, speaking before Tuesday's trip to face Feyenoord at De Kuip, with quotes carried by Corriere dello Sport and reported by Football Italia.
The timing is awkward. Inter arrive in Rotterdam having lost 3-1 to Milan on Saturday, their first Serie A defeat of the season, and sit on three points from three Champions League games after beating Shakhtar Donetsto late on and losing to Real Madrid and Club Brugge.
“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.”
Why 16 points is the number that matters
Chivu put a figure on what Inter need: around 16 points from the Champions League's expanded league phase to secure a top-eight finish and automatic passage into the round of 16. That phrase matters more than it sounds. Under the current single-table format, every club plays eight league-phase opponents rather than meeting the same three teams home and away, so the swing between a top-eight finish and a scramble through the play-off round is wider than in the old group stage.
With one win and two defeats, Inter have banked three points from a possible nine. Reaching 16 from the remaining five fixtures would require roughly four more wins, or a mixture of wins and draws that leaves little margin for further slip-ups against sides like Real Madrid or Club Brugge, both of whom have already beaten them.
Chivu's insistence that the competition “has to be played game by game” is as much an attempt to lower the temperature around that calculation as it is a description of method. Saying Inter are “still in it” after two defeats from three is true arithmetically, but it also depends on results elsewhere in a sixteen-team cluster, which no manager can control from the touchline.
The Rotterdam test and Feyenoord's wide threat
Chivu's specific concern about De Kuip was positional rather than general. He flagged Feyenoord's “intensity, quality” and their use of players such as Moussa and Zequiel as “inverted wingers”, meaning wide forwards who tuck infield off their stronger foot to combine centrally or shoot rather than hug the touchline. Giovanni van Bronckhorst's side beat Como at home earlier in the competition, and Chivu's language suggests he expects Feyenoord to press for turnovers high up the pitch and exploit the half-spaces inside Inter's full-backs once the ball is won back.
That threat is sharpened by the atmosphere he referenced directly: “In this stadium they thrive.” A team built around inverted wingers needs quick transitions to be dangerous, and a vocal home crowd tends to accelerate exactly those moments, pushing opponents into rushed clearances rather than controlled build-up.
Personnel returning after a disrupted week
Chivu also pointed to squad issues that have shaped recent selection, saying Inter had “unpredictable situations” to manage and had to find solutions “with what we had available.” He confirmed that Provedel and Pavard are back available, which restores options at goalkeeper and full-back after a period when neither was fully fit.
Pavard's return matters against a side using inverted wingers, since a settled right-back equipped to track a forward cutting inside is more useful defensively than an auxiliary option asked to improvise in that role. Chivu's broader point, that Inter must “bring out all our qualities to put them in difficulty”, reads as an acknowledgement that set positions and personnel continuity, rather than wholesale tactical change, are what he is relying on to arrest the recent slide.
Inter's immediate response to the Milan defeat will be judged on results against Feyenoord and then across the remaining Champions League fixtures that stand between them and Chivu's stated target of 16 points.