Mkhitaryan faces Shakhtar again: the only player to have played for both

The match at San Siro on 21 October brings Henrikh Mkhitaryan face to face with the club where he made his breakthrough in European football. The Inter midfielder is the only player in the history of the fixture to have represented both clubs. Kick-off is at 21:00 CEST on matchday three of the Champions League league phase.

Between 2010 and 2013, the Armenian made 106 appearances for Shakhtar, scoring 44 goals and winning seven trophies. Three Ukrainian league titles, three domestic cups and one Super Cup made up his haul during that period. His manager was Mircea Lucescu, who had previously coached Inter: as the profile published by the Nerazzurri on Mkhitaryan’s arrival recalls, he finished the 2012/13 season with 29 goals.

His move to Milan came in the summer of 2022. Since then, according to the figures summarised by Inter on the eve of the match, the midfielder has made 191 appearances and scored 12 goals, winning six trophies: two Serie A titles, two Coppa Italia titles and two Italian Super Cups.

That personal connection forms part of a fixture in which Inter are seeking their first European points of the season: after two matches, the Nerazzurri have none, while Shakhtar are unbeaten on four. The record across the seven previous meetings favours Inter, with three wins and four draws, ten goals scored and one conceded. At the Meazza, another name for San Siro, they will need to turn that positive record into a result that gets them off the mark.