Inter and Red Bull Salzburg arrive in Malta for training camp

Inter face Gżira United in friendly on Monday

Italian giants Inter and Austrian champions Red Bull Salzburg flew to Malta on Sunday night ahead of a short training camp on our islands this week.

Inter arrived in Malta on Sunday evening with a 27-man squad spearheaded by coach Simone Inzaghi who will be using the five-day camp here to step up the fitness of the players who were not involved in the 2022 World Cup that is being played in Qatar ahead of the Serie A restart early in January.

Maltese football fans will have the opportunity to watch the Italian side closely on Monday when they play the first of two friendly matches on Monday when they face Maltese Premier League side at the Tony Bezzina Stadium, with the game kicking off at 6pm.

The Nerazzurri will be again in action on Wednesday when they will then face Red Bull Salzburg at the Tony Bezzina Stadium in a second friendly that also starts at 6pm.

The Inter squad that made the trip to Malta includes some star players such as goalkeeper Samir Handanovic, defender Milan Skriniar, midfielders Hakan Calhanoglu, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Nicolo Barella, as well as striker Edin Dzeko.

Inzaghi has selected a number of academy prospects, with Valentin Carboni, Tommaso Guercio, Stefano Di Pentima, Aleksandar Stankovic, Nicolò Biral, Dennis Curatolo, Nikola Iliev, Andrea Pelamatti, Silas Andersen, and Jan Zuberek all making the trip.

Missing from the Inter party is striker Joaquin Correa who has remained in Milan to recover from an injury that he suffered before the start of the World Cup.

On the other hand, Red Bull Salzburg flew to Malta on Sunday night to start their own five-day camp in Malta.

The Austrian champions have brought with them some exciting rising stars of their own such as right-back Amar Dedic, defender Maximilian Wober and star striker Benjamin Sesko, who this summer was linked with big summer moves to English Premier League giants Manchester United and Liverpool.

Salzburg have made the trip to Malta without some key players such as Nicolas Capaldo, Fernando, Lucas Gourna-Douath, Oumar Solet, Samson Tijani and Andreas Ulmer who are currently recovering from injury.

The Austrian side have included in their party several young players from their reserve team, FC Liefering. These are Raphael Hofer, Karim Konate and Lukas Wallner, who will try and stake a claim for a spot with the Red Bull side.

For the Salzburg players, the Malta camp will be their final assignment of the year as on their return to Austria they will have a winter break before they resume their preparations on January 4.