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Pressure mounting on Mourinho´s rattled Inter

SoccerNews in Serie A 7 Mar 2009

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Inter Milan, with their Champions League and Italian Cup hopes hanging by the thinnest of threads, are feeling the heat as their season enters a potentially decisive week.

Jose Mourinho’s team have a seven-point lead over second-placed Juventus in Serie A, but go to Manchester United in midweek for the second leg of their last 16 Champions League tie having been held 0-0 at the San Siro.

On Wednesday, they slumped to an embarrassing 3-0 defeat to Sampdoria in the first leg of their Coppa Italia semi-final.

Mourinho has become clearly rattled.

The Portuguese coach was irritated at having to answer questions about the dubious penalty his team were awarded last weekend in the 3-3 draw against AS Roma and then because a much-changed Inter were humbled at Sampdoria.

While Inter are still expected to romp away to a fourth straight title, defeat to Manchester United on Wednesday would see the club fail in their primary aim for the season.

Added to that they face cup elimination at the hands of a team languishing in the bottom half of the table and while the league looks comfortable, Saturday’s trip to Genoa will be anything but straightforward.

Genoa stand alongside Inter as the only unbeaten teams at home in the league this season whilst they are also the top scorers in front of their own fans, scoring four more than Inter from a game less.

In Diego Milito they have one of the top scorers in the league, second only to Bologna’s Marco Di Vaio.

“Inter will certainly be hungry for victory after their loss to Sampdoria in the Coppa Italia,” said Genoa coach Gian Piero Gasperini.

“But we will take a calm approach to the match as always in spite of the recent controversy involving Inter.”

The match comes at a delicate moment, just days before the trip to Manchester and at a time when Mourinho is getting increasingly infuriated by the Italian press.

Every little refereeing mistake, particularly those that favour the big teams, is analysed and re-analysed on television and in newspapers.

That led to a furore surrounding the penalty awarded to Inter at home to Roma as teenage forward Mario Balotelli went to ground under minimal contact.

After Wednesday’s debacle, Mourinho’s leadership and coaching have also been called into question with the Corriere dello Sport newspaper claiming he had failed as a coach and as a communicator.

However, Inter are favourites to extend their lead this weekend as nearest rivals Juventus have a derby to contend with against a Torino team battling for their Serie A survival.

Meanwhile, AC Milan will try to forget a miserable 10 days in which they were knocked out of the UEFA Cup and lost at Sampdoria in the league.

They trail Inter by 12 points ahead of the visit of Atalanta on Sunday and their main aim now is simply to stay in the top three to ensure they qualify directly for the group stages of next season’s Champions League.

Fixtures:

Saturday

Genoa v Inter Milan, AS Roma v Udinese, Torino v Juventus

Sunday

AC Milan v Atalanta, Bologna v Sampdoria, Catania v Siena, Chievo v Cagliari, Fiorentina v Palermo, Lecce v Reggina, Napoli v Lazio

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