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The curtain has been drawn on the final international break of 2025, and now all eyes are back on club football, more specifically the derby.
The October internationals were cruel to Milan as they lost multiple key players through injury. This time around there were 12 called up by their national teams rather than the 15 from last month, but given that a game against Inter beckons on Sunday there was naturally still some anxiety.
Well, we are pleased to announce that Milan have got through the last break of the year unscathed, helped by the fact that players like Christian Pulisic and Adrien Rabiot remained at Milanello to recover. For those who did jet off, how did they get on?
The goal-assist combo
Alexis Saelemaekers played a starring role for Belgium as they beat Liechtenstein 7-0 on Tuesday night, securing their World Cup spot in the process. The wing-back managed to rack up an assist and a goal for the Red Devils.
The Milan man got an assist first, providing a nice cut-back for Jeremy Doku to convert and make it 2-0. The goal that he scored was a rather fortunate one, but also a good bit of instinct.
A long range strike from Youri Tielemans was parried up in the air by the goalkeeper, with Alexis on hand to tuck in the rebound.
It is another good sign from Saelemaekers, who has had a great start to the season at club level too which could lead to a renewal in the coming weeks.
🅰️ A nice assist from Saelemaekers too, for Doku’s goal 👌pic.twitter.com/Y8HnhXj8Cw
— SempreMilan (@SempreMilanCom) November 19, 2025
Elsewhere, Francesco Camarda’s fantastic start to life as an Italy U21 international continued as he got two goal contributions on Wednesday night, following Saelemaekers’ formula of a goal and an assist.
On a ‘difficult’ pitch to say the least, he did brilliantly for his goal, taking a stride inside onto his right foot before unleashing a powerful low shot that beat the goalkeeper comfortably at the near post.
After previous goals against Sweden and against Armenia (x2), Camarda now has four goals in four games for the Azzurini. He would also get an assist in the game, making it five goal contributions.
⚽️ Camarda scored his fourth goal in four games for Italy U21s.
🅰️ He also got an assist in the Azzurrini's 4-1 win over Montenegro 🇮🇹pic.twitter.com/kajSXv8mlu
— SempreMilan (@SempreMilanCom) November 19, 2025
Passports ready
As mentioned above, Belgium overcame a bit of a scare in their group to eventually ensure direct qualification for next summer’s tournament in North America, but they weren’t the only ones to stamp their tickets.
Firstly it was the turn of Mike Maignan and Christopher Nkunku to celebrate. Following a convincing 4-0 win over Ukraine in their first game, Les Bleus booked their spot at the 2026 World Cup.
On Thursday night, Strahinja Pavlović played for the full 90 minutes in Serbia’s defeat to England. It was ultimately a result that ended his nation’s hopes of reaching the World Cup next summer, which was a bitter note.
After Germany 2006, Brazil 2014, Russia 2018 and Qatar 2022, Modric is heading for a fifth World Cup. Croatia qualified following their 3-1 win over the Faroe Islands, and they actually became the third European country to seal a spot.
On Sunday, the international break delivered another key result: Portugal cemented their place at the 2026 World Cup, thanks to a 9-1 demolition of Armenia to seal top spot in Group F. It came after they had lost to Ireland in the previous game, meaning qualification went to the final game.
Italy beat Moldova 2-0 in their first game to at least secure a play-off spot, but were then beaten 4–1 at San Siro by Norway and now forced to wait and see who the draw pits them against. Matteo Gabbia remained on the bench for both games, while Samuele Ricci featured only for the final 10 minutes against Norway.
Derby della Minutes
Inter had 11 players called up by their national teams, so almost the exact same number as their opponents on Sunday, but who will return with more minutes in their legs?
Ten players logged at least 90 minutes of playing time over the two games. Zielinski played all of Poland’s two matches against the Netherlands (1-1) and Malta (3-2 victory), which allowed them to secure second place in the group and access to the World Cup play-offs.
The same goes for Switzerland’s Manuel Akanji, as well as Milan’s youngsters Davide Bartesaghi (Italy Under-21) and Zachary Athekame (Switzerland Under-21). Pavlovic played a full game against England, but one half against Latvia.
Of the players called up to the national teams, there were six goals, but almost all of them from the Nerazzurri. Pio Esposito was the star of the show: the 20-year-old scored for the Azzurri in both the Moldova match and against Norway, becoming the fourth-youngest player to reach three goals for the national team.
With Thuram set to return from the start, Inter’s other centre-forward Lautaro Martinez also found the net in the friendly in Angola. Chivu can also be happy with the scoring prowess shown by two midfielders: Hakan Calhanoglu scored for Turkey, and Zielinski for Poland.
Inter players also dominated the field with assists. Dimarco was a key figure, first providing a cross for Mancini to score the opening goal in Moldova, and then setting up Esposito for the 1-0 win against Norway.
Lautaro put in a complete performance in Angola: in addition to breaking the deadlock, he also provided Messi with the assist to seal the win, after the roles had been reversed for the first goal.
Zielinski also provided an assist: before scoring the winner, he had already delivered the free-kick into the middle that Lewandowski headed in. However, he is a doubt for the derby with a knock, just as Denzel Dumfries has sustained an ankle issue.
For Milan the shining light was Saelemaekers once again represented Milan, scoring and assisting against Liechtenstein.
Below is the complete record of Inter players with their respective national teams. The total minutes played is 1,083.
➤ Piotr Zielinski (Poland) – 180′ and 1 goal
➤ Federico Dimarco (Italy) – 106′
➤ Francesco Pio Esposito (Italy) – 104′ and 2 goals
➤ Manuel Akanji (Switzerland) – 180′
➤ Hakan Calhanoglu (Turkey) – 90′ and 1 goal
➤ Petar Sucic (Croatia) – 90′
➤ Alessandro Bastoni (Italy) – 86′
➤ Nicolò Barella (Italy) – 86′
➤ Lautaro Martinez (Argentina) – 85′ and 1 goal
➤ Davide Frattesi (Italy) – 76′
➤ Denzel Dumfries (Netherlands) – returned to Italy before the two matches
And below is Milan’s record, for a total playing time of 979 minutes.
➤ Strahinja Pavlovic (Serbia) – 135′
➤ Koni De Winter (Belgium) – 90′
➤ Mike Maignan (France) – 90′
➤ Rafael Leao (Portugal) – 83′
➤ Luka Modric (Croatia) – 74′
➤ Christopher Nkunku (France) – 62′
➤ Alexis Saelemaekers (Belgium) – 81′ and 1 goal
➤ Samuele Ricci (Italy) – 4′
➤ Matteo Gabbia (Italy) – 0′
➤ Davide Bartesaghi (Italy Under 21) – 180′
➤ Zachary Athekame (Switzerland Under 21) – 180′
Comparing the two teams, Inter’s internationals racked up 104 minutes more in total. However, that feels like a small difference, given the magnitude of the 90+ minutes that follows on Sunday night at La Scala del Calcio.
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