Benjamin Pavard, Inter's 30-year-old French defender, has returned to training and will be available for the Nerazzurri's Champions League fixture against Feyenoord — a timely recovery for a club navigating a congested schedule with a depleted squad.
The timing matters. Inter had left Pavard out of the matchday squad for two consecutive fixtures, against AC Milan and Venezia, without a stated reason. His return does not solve every problem — Lautaro Martínez remains absent — but it restores depth to a defensive unit that Chivu's Inter has leaned on heavily in a Serie A campaign that has produced only 13 goals conceded across ten matches.
That defensive solidity is the foundation of Inter's second-place standing, 25 points from ten Serie A matches, a record of eight wins, one draw, and one loss. The derby defeat to AC Milan is the wound that still needs dressing. Inter forward Marcus Thuram acknowledged as much, calling for a change of mentality and aligning himself with the frustration expressed by Nicolo Barella and Alessandro Bastoni. Inter coach Cristian Chivu, for his part, has spoken of converting that anger into energy ahead of the European assignment, insisting his side remain in contention in the Champions League.
Pavard's own Serie A numbers this season are modest: three appearances, no goals, no assists, an average rating of 6.96. An AI overall of 76 out of 100 suggests a player still operating near his ceiling, but the rating also reflects how little he has been tested in open play this season. Three matches is too thin a sample to draw conclusions about form; what the data does confirm is that when Pavard has played, Inter have not conceded at a rate that suggests his presence is a liability.
Feyenoord's coach Giovanni van Bronckhorst has already cautioned his squad that a home win against Como carries no weight against this Inter side — an acknowledgement, implicit but clear, of the Nerazzurri's structural quality even in a difficult week. Pavard's availability, however modest in isolation, is one fewer variable for Chivu to manage.
The Frenchman's Inter chapter has been defined more by absences than by defining performances. Whether the Feyenoord match offers him a stage to change that is the question his season now hinges on.