Time For A Taste Of Europe

By: chris | February 18th, 2008

Two of the three remaining representatives of Italy are going to be spending their Tuesdays battling away in some big time European action. Inter is travelling to Anfield for a first leg against Rafa’s Spanish Armada while Roma host Real Madrid at the Stadio Olimpico. And no matter how you feel about either team, fact is the better Italian teams do, the better the coefficient and the more positive the impact on your team, perhaps. (But it’s okay to smile wryly if a team you dislike takes a premature bow.)

Liverpool v Inter: I’ll preface this by saying this is not bias whatsoever, but this game isn’t really about Inter. Liverpool is in the midst of a crisis, after losing to a Championship side on Saturday, and Rafa is whittling away his nine lives pretty fast. In fact, he may be down to his last one - Rafa’s a Cup guy. Dropping out of two cups early (for Liverpool) while attempting to make up ground on 4th place probably puts him into the unemployment line sooner rather than later.

Of course, the players will fight for him, and Liverpool were underdogs in the first knockouts against title holders last year but went to the final anyway. And only a few years ago were minutes away from the UEFA Cup before Steven Gerrard’s wondergoal sent them through, eventually winning the title. Everybody knows: Liverpool & Champions League Liverpool are two vastly different teams. Matching them with Serie A’s top team means this could be an epic battle.

The news for both teams is in the injuries. Fernando Torres will be making his return for the Reds, while Martha’s dreamboat, Luish, got in some action over the weekend and could feature at some point. The two names considered “doubtful” were Patrick Vieira and Luis Jimenez. Vieira made the trip, at least for some Merseyside sightseeing, but Jimenez has been left behind to watch the game from his sofa. Vieira isn’t a huge loss, but Jimenez could do really well against Liverpool. That one’ll sting. However, Zlatan is rested and, well……you know.

For shits & giggles, ESPN’s predicted lineups:

Liverpool: 25-Pepe Reina; 2-Steve Finnan, 23-Jamie Carragher, 4-Sami Hyypia, 6-John-Arne Riise; 11-Yossi Benayoun, 8-Steven Gerrard, 20-Javier Mascherano, 7-Harry Kewell; 18-Dirk Kuyt, 9-Fernando Torres

Inter Milan: 12-Julio Cesar; 13-Maicon, 2-Ivan Cordoba, 23-Marco Materazzi, 6-Maxwell; 4-Javier Zanetti, 19-Esteban Cambiasso, 28-Maniche, 5-Dejan Stankovic; 9-Julio Cruz, 8-Zlatan Ibrahimovic

Roma v Real:

Roma’s sucked ass lately, and that’s not an exaggeration. They’re tactically confused, out of rhythm and completely unenthused. Enter Real Madrid. Wonderful. The news for Real is also injury based, as their injury list could make almost a damn fine team:
Pepe, Metzelder, Robinho, Sneijder, Saviola y Marcelo. Beaucoup talent on that list, a huge help to Roma. They’ll still be featuring the King of CL goals, Raul, and a couple other decent players, so it may not matter all that much.

The boys from the capital will be hoping Francesco Totti wakes up from his little mid-season calcio siesta and imposes himself on the game, or else the magic will have to come from someone else not named David Pizarro. Maybe Mancini will be able to channel his inner Lyonnais and stepover Real’s back line on the way to victory.

No matter what happens, though, with Luciano Spalletti and Bernd Schuster patrolling the sidelines, this one should be all kinds of joga bonito and bella calcio. Especially with Roma feeling comfortable at home at the Olimpico, where Real only managed to take a point away from Lazio in the fall. Worth skipping out of work early, for sure.

* - And of course, it’s always nice to see Canna and his mega-watt grin back home.

More shits & giggles:

Roma:
Doni;
Cicinho, Juan, Mexes, Cassetti;
DDR, Aquilani;
Taddei, Perrotta, Mancini;
Totti.

Real:
Casillas;
Ramos, Heinze, Cannavaro, Torres;
Diarra, Guti, Gago;
Raul, RvN, Robben.