Champions League: Inter in Moscow, Roma Host Sporting

By: Martha | October 23rd, 2007

Go Ivan. Last time Inter were in Russia, Julio Cruz scored in the first minute(ish) and they beat Spartak Moscow on a plastic pitch to begin turning around last season’s nightmarish Champions League start. Though the turnaround has started a little earlier this time round, three away points again would be very nice: CSKA Moscow are bottom of Group G with one point from two matches, and Inter need to beat them to make sure they say in the top two (or take over the top spot, if Fenerbahçe fail to beat PSV), as well as for the good of their fragile European confidence.

Inter’s pathetically thin defense has gotten Ivan Cordoba — who has been a stud in Serie A so far this season — back from suspension, but also lost Cristian Chivu to one, thanks to his brilliant red card against PSV. Still missing thanks to the Valencia debacle are Nicolas Burdisso (for four more games) and Maicon, and David Suazo is out, too, because of his bizarre, post-game sending off on the last matchday. In addition, Zlatan Ibrahimovic has a fever, while Dejan Stankovic’s heel is STILL hurting, so they’re both technically question marks for today, but it’s probably safe to assume they’ll be on the field. Oh, and if he plays, it’ll be Luis Figo’s 100th Champions League match. Yes, he’s old. CSKA Moscow, meanwhile, have been struggling a bit at home but just got playmaker and all-around stud Daniel Carvalho back from injury, and are saying things that sound vaguely optimistic.

Back in Italy, Roma will be hoping to recover from their loss to Man U with a home win over Sporting Lisbon, with whom they currently share second place in Group F. I’ll send you to Chris’ exhaustive preview for the details, but Sporting have all kind of trouble with Italian teams, and Roma will be hoping that trend continues for at least another five hours or so.