Inter armed with Riazor blade

By Ivan Carvalho

They may be two goals down from the first leg of their UEFA Champions League tie against AC Milan, but FC Internazionale Milano have not given up hope.

Important precedent
A 2-0 defeat in the first of the two quarter-final Milan derbies was a bitter blow for Inter, but if they need encouragement, they need only look back to last season, when the Rossoneri took a seemingly irreversible three-goal advantage to RC Deportivo La Coruña only to lose 4-0 and bow out of the competition.

Long memory
"This time last year Milan were pegged back by Deportivo after being up by three goals," remembered Inter midfield player Iván Córdoba as he looked ahead to tonight's second leg. "We have to believe in ourselves and hope we can get an early goal and turn things around."

Sore point
The Riazor stadium calamity is still a sore point for Milan, who had seemingly booked their berth in the 2003/04 semi-finals with a ten-minute barrage of goals at the San Siro. Most painful of all was the way that Javier Irureta's side exploited uncharacteristic defensive errors to ruin their European dream.

Defensive lapses
Taking the lead through Walter Pandiani after five minutes, by half-time in Spain, Deportivo had profited from errors by defenders Paolo Maldini and Alessandro Nesta and a cross fumbled by goalkeeper Dida to score three times, applying the coup de grâce in the second half.

Bright start
However, if Inter are to make a similarly impressive comeback against Milan this season, they will need to start brightly and put their bad run of 320 minutes of football since they last scored against their local rivals to a swift and unceremonious end.

'Great feat'
Inter's Juan Sebástian Verón has certainly set his sights on the early goal, saying: "If we can get it then we will be in a good position to get ourselves through. Overturning this result in the second leg would be a great feat and we have to believe in our chances."

Seedorf wary
While Inter's hopes are high, there is a corresponding caution in the Milan camp. "It is great being up 2-0 but it should not make us feel overconfident," said midfield player Clarence Seedorf. "Deportivo taught us that anything can happen and so we have to be that much more prepared."

Bad luck
Roberto Mancini's Inter may feel that fortune has favoured Milan in recent meetings. Their 1-0 defeat against them in Serie A this season came from a fortuitously deflected Kaká shot, while they were clearly the dominant side in the first half of last week's defeat.

Mancini resilient
"We are not resigned to our fate, there are still 90 minutes left to play and in the first half we were the better team," said Mancini. "They weren't two goals better than us and Dida kept them in it in the first half before we were caught cold before the break."

Sucker punch
Jaap Stam's goal on the stroke of half-time for Milan was a sucker punch but the Dutchman's headed effort underlined a perceived Inter weakness - defending set pieces. Eyebrows were raised as the giant Stam was man-marked at set-pieces by the diminutive Córdoba while the tall Marco Materazzi remained on the bench.

Adriano question
However, if they can learn from such mistakes this week, the return of Inter's Brazilian goal machine - Adriano - from injury could be the factor that turns their luck in the second leg. "If we have Adriano fit for the second leg, he could make the difference," said Mancini.