Reprising a famous contest in the 2010 final, European heavyweights Inter and Bayern Munich met in Bavaria on Tuesday night, with the Italian club claiming an advantage after the first leg of their quarter-final tie.

Inflicting Bayern's first home loss in the Champions League for four years, Simone Inzaghi's side were almost denied victory by Thomas Muller's late leveller - which cancelled out a sublime first-half strike by Lautaro Martinez - but there was a last-gasp twist, as Davide Frattesi restored Inter's lead ahead of next week's return leg.

Before reconvening with the Bundesliga leaders in Milan, the Nerazzurri must switch focus back to the Scudetto race, as they aim to keep their sole challengers at arm's length.

Inter have conceded just three goals throughout their whole continental campaign, but they uncharacteristically let a two-goal lead slip against Parma last weekend and had to settle for a 2-2 draw. Nonetheless, Napoli's subsequent stalemate with Bologna leaves Inzaghi's men three points clear at the top with just seven games to go.

The first takes place at San Siro, where Inter have scored in 37 consecutive Serie A home games over the past two years - the second-best run throughout the club's long history - and won 11 out of 15 so far this season.

Furthermore, they have lost just one of their last 14 top-flight clashes with Cagliari, including December's 3-0 success in Sardinia.

Down the years, Cagliari have certainly struggled to keep Inter in check, shipping more league goals to the Milan giants than any other opponents (152 in 87 matches) - they have also conceded at least once in the clubs' last 25 meetings at San Siro.

On this occasion, the Sardinian side trail their hosts by 38 points in the standings, down from 52 at this time last year, when the pair played out a 2-2 draw.

While the Nerazzurri are still seeking a Serie A, Coppa Italia and Champions League treble, Cagliari only have seven games left to secure their place in Italy's top tier for a third straight season.

Last week, the Rossoblu's boss Davide Nicola - a renowned survival specialist, who saved Empoli's skin last season - returned to Tuscany aiming to guide his current club further away from danger. Though they could only play out a 0-0 draw with their fellow strugglers at Stadio Castellani, Cagliari now sit six points above the drop zone.

However, Nicola's men have won just one of their last 13 away fixtures - none since beating rock-bottom Monza in January - and they remain particularly vulnerable when defending set-piece situations.

Having conceded the most dead-ball goals (17) in Serie A so far, they now visit hosts with a league-high 20 strikes from set pieces - not an ideal recipe for success.

Inter Milan possible starting lineup:

Sommer; Pavard, De Vrij, Bisseck; Zalewski, Barella, Asllani, Mkhitaryan, Augusto; Arnautovic, Thuram

Cagliari possible starting lineup:

Caprile; Palomino, Mina, Luperto; Zortea, Adopo, Prati, Augello; Viola, Luvumbo; Piccoli