Inter, Roma set to test title ambitions
Posted: Thursday December 17, 1998 03:23 PM
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Ronaldo from Inter Milan, left, takes control of the ball before Darko Milanic from Sturm Graz AP |
ROME (AP) -- Internazionale of Milan can make months of early-season heartache disappear in 90 minutes.
The club got off to a slow start marked by inner turmoil and injuries to star strikers Roberto Baggio and Ronaldo, but a victory over visiting AS Roma Sunday night will push Inter right back into the thick of the Serie A title chase.
The match highlights the 14th round and will give both sides a chance to measure if they really could end long championship droughts. Inter last captured the league crown in 1989, Roma in 1983.
Fiorentina, alone in first place for the first time since 1982, leads with 28 points. AC Milan is next with 24, followed by Roma and AC Parma with 23 apiece.
Inter sits fifth with 21 points.
Sunday's other games are Cagliari vs. Bologna; Empoli vs. AC Parma; Juventus of Turin vs. Salernitana; Lazio of Rome vs. Udinese; Perugia vs. Fiorentina; Piacenza vs. Bari; Sampdoria of Genoa vs. Milan; and Vicenza vs. Venezia.
After a break for the holidays, league action will resume with a rare Wednesday slate of games January 6.
Inter fired coach Luigi Simoni on Nov. 30 and replacement Mircea Lucescu has compiled a win and a draw since. The club was also hit by Taribo West's unsettling tantrum, in which the Nigerian defender ripped off his jersey and threw it at Lucescu after being substituted.
On the field, veteran Baggio and Brazil's Ronaldo have played together only a handful of minutes, both sidelined intermittently by knee injuries. The have been formidable, though, when lined up side-by-side.
Baggio fed Ronaldo for the game-winner against Udinese last week, giving the two-time FIFA Player of the Year four goals in the six games he's played this season.
But neither appears to be able to sustain a top level of play for a full game. Lucescu indicated he might start Youri Djorkaeff, who helped France win the World Cup, up front with Ronaldo, and bring Baggio off the bench in the second half.
Roma, meanwhile, has Italy's top attack, averaging about 2 goals per game. Marco Delvecchio is tied for second in the league with 8 goals, one ahead of teammate Francesco Totti.
The third starter at forward, Brazil's Paulo Sergio (5 goals), has been slowed by a leg injury and might not start Sunday. Carmine Gautieri, who scored last week as a substitute, would fill in.
An Inter win would put it no lower than fourth in the standings and might even vault it into second place.
Juventus, meanwhile, hosts Salernitana -- which is 16th in the 18-team league -- hoping not to lose any more ground in its uphill quest for a third straight title.
The Turin club has lost three straight (it dropped two games all last season) and been shut out in four in a row since star striker Alessandro Del Piero went out for the season with knee ligament damage.
In addition, defender Mark Iuliano will miss the game with a broken nose suffered last week against Fiorentina, while Uruguayan center back Paolo Montero and veteran midfielder Antonio Conte are suspended.
Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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