Internazionale Main Thread III

[maro]

What a pity the ref ruined a great occasion with such a cheap yellow card, right? I mean, he has to show a little commonsense there, no? With the eyes of the world on the game, and all, etc. etc.

[Dejan-Stankovic]

We're comparing a dangerous tackle to clapping?

[zafferano]

[Totally FRANK]

Mou to make changes for Barca?
Saturday 17 April, 2010
There are reports Jose Mourinho will revolutionise his tactics again to neutralise Leo Messi’s Barcelona.
Inter welcome the reigning Champions League holders in Tuesday’s semi-final at San Siro and were expected to maintain the 4-2-3-1 system that proved so successful against Chelsea.

However, the latest rumours in the Italian media suggest that Mourinho is planning a change of system.

He could adopt a 4-1-4-1 approach to close down Barca’s many creative centres in midfield, a system already tested in the Coppa Italia against Fiorentina this week.

Douglas Maicon was fielded in a more advanced role with Samuel Eto’o also placed out wide around Thiago Motta and Wesley Sneijder.

Esteban Cambiasso would protect the defence, leaving Diego Milito as the lone centre-forward.

This locked down midfield would put constant pressure on Xavi and ensure Maicon could go forward without worrying too much about defending.

When these sides met in the group phase, Barcelona earned a 0-0 draw at San Siro and 2-0 victory at the Nou Camp.

[maro]

By the letter of the law, cajun, both were second yellows - but weren't you bleating about a bit of common-sense, licence for a ref to take a more understanding approach given that it's such a big, heated game? What was Sissoko's first card for, anyway, and it's not like his second tackle was really dangerous - rash and poorly timed, sure, but hardly dangerous. Zanetti barely even noticed it, I'd say. I'm just asking for a little consistency. In one instance it was proof of a sustained conspiracy; in the other it passes without mention.

[Totally FRANK]

Does anyone who watched the game agree with this analysis

http://www.zonalmarking.net/2010/04/17/ ... n-tactics/

[maro]

Not in the slightest, Frank. You guys created loads of chances and it seemed just a matter of time before one went in (as it turned out). Rube were also giving your boys loads of space at the top of the box and so it seemed almost certain one of those long-range strikes would go in. I thought this was in large part why Cajun was brought on - because he's deadly from distance and had two or three near misses as it was. That Maicon scored from that range was hardly out of the blue on the night. Milito's out of sorts at the moment, I think; were he in the form of the beginning of the season you'd have won by three or four. In the first half you let Rube have lots of the ball, but looked likely to create something anytime you countered.

[Totally FRANK]

Yeah, I saw the highlights and Milito missed two gilt-edged chances, which he would have scored normally. He has been used more than any other striker and I think he is just tired.

[Dejan-Stankovic]

[Dejan-Stankovic]

[zafferano]

Dejan how is possible that you see one game and Maro see another
injustice against as been done all true the season and i never hear
him or anyone comment about .
in the juve game we did give them some space in first 10 minutes
but after that we was in total control and in my opinion
Sissoko in or out would have not made a difference .
dont see maro friend ,the great BAGG come to comment this time .

[maro]

No, I agree with Cajun really, briz. I didn't have any problems with Sissoko's cards. I just thought it was interesting to place the reactions to the two instances alongside one another. Tifosi (of all teams) tend to see decisions that go against their side as literally incredible and glaring mistakes whereas when those decisions go for their side the call so often gets taken as self-evidently and unproblematically the right one. That way, of course, you can keep up the complex that injustice has been done against your team all through the season. Perhaps a better comparison would have been Lucio's sending off in the Milan game; I just think it's interesting how tifosi take it as their side's right when they get the rub of the green and then respond with indignation when things go the other way.

[RomaShield27]

Barca forced to travel by coach
– By Soccernet staff – April 18, 2010

Barcelona will travel to Italy by coach as they prepare to take on Inter Milan in Tuesday's Champions League semi-final first leg. The club indicated in a statement on Saturday night that the volcanic ash cloud that has prevented flights across Europe could force them to change their travel plans.

The statement read: "The club have decided to travel to Milan this Sunday immediately after training. The ash cloud from the volcano in Iceland has obliged the team to modify their travel arrangements, with the flight to Milan remaining the first option.

"The club held an emergency meeting after the derby game to assess the various possibilities of getting to Milan given the air traffic emergency caused by the Icelandic eruption and finally decided to leave a day earlier than planned.

"If a flight is ruled out, the next option will be to travel to Milan by coach."

A club spokesman has now confirmed that the squad will travel by coach, with the team set to spend the night in France before arriving in Italy in time for training on Monday afternoon.

Following the 0-0 draw with Espanyol, Pep Guardiola said: "If we go by road we will not have the desired recovery, but there are many teams in the Segunda B who travel 16 or 17 hours by coach every week."

The party left at around 1500 local time for the 1,000 kilometres trip to the San Siro.

Guardiola has named a strong 20-man travelling party for the match. Left back Eric Abidal, who has yet to receive the green light to return to action following a thigh injury, and 20-year-old reserve defender Andreu Fontas are the two newcomers to the squad that took on local rivals Espanyol on Saturday.

The only players unavailable are Spain midfielder Andres Iniesta, who is set to be absent until mid-May with a hamstring tear, and Ukraine international Dmitrio Chygrynskiy, who is ineligible. Iniesta was one of two players missing from team training on Sunday morning, the other being Lionel Messi, who worked in the gym.

[Dejan-Stankovic]

[Dejan-Stankovic]

[Totally FRANK]

[Totally FRANK]

Sneijder has scent of glory
Published: Monday 19 April 2010
FC Barcelona stand in their way in the semi-finals but that cannot detract from Wesley Sneijder's belief that FC Internazionale Milano are so close to winning the European title.
by Paolo Menicucci
from Milan

He may have played there for two seasons with Real Madrid CF but Wesley Sneijder hopes his most important game at the Santiago Bernabéu stadium will come in an FC Internazionale Milano shirt – the UEFA Champions League final on 22 May.

The attacking midfielder began plotting a dream return to the Spanish capital the moment he left Real Madrid for Internazionale late last August. "Yes, it would be nice to play there and win the cup – a great moment," said the Dutch international, who made the move to the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza after Madrid had signed Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaká.

"It became my dream once I went to Inter, as I knew the final was at the Bernabéu. I was dreaming about reaching the final and lifting the cup. We're just two games away now, so let's go for it. Nothing is impossible."

The two matches he refers to, however, are against Europe's most-feared team and its most-feared player. Inter welcome FC Barcelona and Lionel Messi for their semi-final first leg on Tuesday before travelling to face the continental titleholders on 28 April. "Well, yes, I have heard about Messi," the 25-year-old joked, before adding: "I think at the moment he's the best player in the world, but of course there is a way to stop him. Why not? We will find out next week."

While Inter must work out how to halt Messi, Barcelona will do well to watch Sneijder. The former AFC Ajax prodigy has been decisive with four assists and two goals in the Nerazzurri's run to a first semi-final since 2003. "I have realised that I am one of the big players in the team, and I hope to be that until the end of the season – which starts now," he said.

Inter coach José Mourinho never appeared to doubt the set-piece specialist's value to the defending Italian champions. After all, he fielded Sneijder in his starting lineup just 24 hours after signing him, in a 4-0 derby win against AC Milan. That compliment is returned when Sneijder pinpoints his coach as key to beating Barcelona. "I think he's a fantastic trainer," he said. "He knows exactly how to manage both on an individual level and for the whole team. That's why I'm not scared about the semi-final. He will give us information nobody else can give us. That is the power of Mourinho."

The Utrecht-born player also identifies the round of 16 victory over Mourinho's former side Chelsea FC – with wins at both San Siro and Stamford Bridge – as a vital confidence-building exercise. "It gave a boost to the team – if you beat one of the top clubs in Europe, it definitely gives you a lift." Mourinho himself expanded on the theme after the subsequent quarter-final success over PFC CSKA Moskva – when Sneijder's solitary goal in Moscow completed a 2-0 aggregate triumph – hailing Inter's new-found belief and maturity.

Now they pursue a sixth straight UEFA Champions League win against a Barcelona outfit that took four points off them in the group stage. The No10 is only looking forward though. Having finally jumped the quarter-final hurdle, where he was unseated with Ajax against Milan in 2003 – "0-0 at home and then one minute from the semis at 2-2 in Italy [before a late Jon Dahl Tomasson winner]" – his focus is fixed on the final straight.

Recognising that he was "not even born" when Inter lifted the second of their two European Champion Clubs' Cups in 1965, he said: "A club like Inter are very hungry to win the Champions League, and that's good because Inter are a big club. I don't know if we're going to win it this year, but we are getting better and better and we're going to win it in the future. We are so close now."

[juventino_italiano]

[juventino_italiano]

[Dejan-Stankovic]