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Valencia vs. Inter Milan Match Preview Posted: Tuesday April 22, 2003 7:05 AMTuesday, April 22, KO 1845 GMT, Mestalla, Champions League quarterfinal, second leg. Inter Milan leads 1-0 on aggregate. Inter Milan coach Hector Cuper will be relieved to have got through Saturday's 1-0 win at Brescia without addition to his injury list. Defenders Fabio Cannavaro and Francesco Coco and midfielder Domenico Morfeo all missed the game at Brescia but were never in with a chance of making the trip to Spain and Turkish midfielder Belozoglu Emre is suspended after his red-card in the first leg. Cuper has few options in defense or midfield but must decide whether to ask Hernan Crespo or Alvaro Recoba to partner Christian Vieri in attack. Vieri and Crespo started Saturday's game on the bench, indicating they would start against Valencia although Crespo scored the injury-time winner after Inter were reduced to nine men. Valencia has holding midfielder David Albelda suspended and right winger Francisco Rufete doubtful with a calf injury. That could persuade coach Rafa Benitez to switch from his preferred lone striker formation to a straight 4-4-2 lineup, with Juan Sanchez, Mista or Miguel Angel Angulo alongside John Carew up front. The good news for Benitez is that he can recall center-back Mauricio Pellegrino following his suspension for the opening leg. That should see Pellegrino back alongside his fellow Argentine Roberto Ayala at the heart of the defense. Probable teams: Valencia: 1-Santiago Canizares; 3-Anthony Reveillere, 4-Roberto Ayala, 2-Mauricio Pellegrino, 15-Amedeo Carboni; 19-Francisco Rufete, 8-Ruben Baraja, 21-Pablo Aimar, 14-Vicente; 7-John Carew, 10-Miguel Angel Angulo. Inter: 1-Francesco Toldo; 4-Javier Zanetti, 23-Marco Materazzi, 2-Ivan Cordoba, Giovanni Pasquale; 22-Buruk Okan, 14-Luigi Di Biagio, 6-Cristiano Zanetti, 18-Stephane Dalmat; 32-Christian Vieri, 9-Hernan Crespo. Referee: Kim Milton Nielsen (Denmark) Match Stats: Head-to-head record:
Previous meetings:
Valencia:
Inter Milan:
Champions League results 2002-03 Valencia P13 W7 D4 L2 F22 A11
Inter Milan P15 W8 D5 L2 F26 A16
Notes: Valencia must face this tie with some trepidation after losing its last home tie to an Italian team 3-0 when AS Roma was the visitor in the second group phase. It also lost at home to Inter 1-0 last year when it went out of the UEFA Cup at the quarterfinal stage. It has beaten only two of its last six Italian visitors. However, its overall recent record at the Mestalla is excellent with just two defeats in the last 37 European games. Inter should feel confident carrying a 1-0 lead from the home leg. But they have a poor record in Spain and have lost eight of their last 10 games there. Their only defeat in this season's Champions League was in Spain when they went down 3-0to Barcelona in the second phase. Valencia's record v Italian clubs: P17 W5 D3 L9 F20 A23
Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. |
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