Lazio v Inter: preview (+ survey)

“We are the Martians” was the Gazzetta dello Sport header the day after Inter had beaten the unbeatables. The entire world knew that Barcelona were human, after all. After the first leg, Pep Guardiola pointed to a dry San Siro pitch, not slick enough for his liking, Xavi had a moan at the referee and the Special One found it hard to relax and bask in the applause. But what a celebration after taking Inter Milan to their first European Cup final for 38 years via what will be forever remembered as the Battle of Barcelona. The Nerazzurri hold firm in ten men for more than an hour and the Blaugrana only scored when there were 5 minutes left on the clock. But Inter did it and they are now on track to achieve what would be an historical first treble in the history of Italian football. After the match against Lazio, they will face Roma on Wednesday again in the Stadio Olimpico for the Coppa Italia final. Inter face a crucial month and will also be tired from their tough defensive efforts in Barcelona on Wednesday night. Speaking of the game ahead, José Mourinho said: “Kolarov is an extraordinary player. Lazio is not a great team. Personally I would really like to be his coach. The only obstacle to a possible negotiation with the Biancocelesti club could be represented by the cost of the transfer. (Lazio president Claudio) Lotito is asking a lot and the situation is not simple. Anyway, I wish the player to quickly find a great team that allows him to make the final leap.”
José knows that the vast majority of all the Stadio Olimpico will cheer on his team so with those words he basically wanted to deal the kiss of death on the match. And of course he has clearly admitted that he’s been having some problem on the left flank since the beginning of the season.

Lazio will face Inter for the third time this season. After lifting the Supercup in a hot and sultry Beijing at the expense of a newly assembled side, they went on to lose in December in Milan playing in a minus 7 degree Celsius. In both occasions Samuel Eto’o scored past Muslera. From a survey taken in our website, the majority of Lazio supporters don’t want their team to beat Inter (who lead Roma by 2 points), while only a small minority will support Lazio or decide what to do after the Roma (Saturday at 6 pm) and Atalanta (Sunday at 3 pm) games. A similar situation will unfold at Anfield in Liverpool where the hosts could handle Manchester United the chance of going top of the league and the Red Devils would thereby almost certainly beat Liverpool's record for the most number of titles (19). Most Reds fans would rather see Chelsea win instead of their own team. Stranger things have happened at sea!

By the way, who will you support? Would you take a shot at our survey? Just send your answers to the three following questions to my e-mail address (just click on my name above), signing with your name and Country:

1) Who will you support on Sunday night?
2) Why?
3) Which is your worst fear: relegation or Roma’s title?

This said, Edy Reja won’t sit on the bench on Sunday night – former Lazio player Giovanni Lopez (1997-1999) will take the technical area instead. The Rome born Lopez will try to encourage his players in a very controversial match – he already did it against Genoa last Sunday when Reja was sent off for stepping over the delimitation line. Normally, Lopez takes care of the defensive movements and tactics in training.
Lazio are all but safe. The away game in Livorno next week promises to be a fierce battle even if the Amaranto have already gone down. Lazio are six points from the dreaded drop zone with three games left and know that any result will virtually assure them of safety while either a win or a draw could ensure they stay up should Atalanta lose. The good news is that Atalanta have definitely a worse fixture list, having to face Bologna and Palermo at home and Napoli away.
Reja said: "I'm sure we'll get a result, also because we need to. We'll tackle Inter as we did Roma (two weeks ago). The derby didn't go well but we hope things will change against Inter. It will be difficult because we're playing against a top drawer team but we'll try."

Last time Lazio beat Inter in Rome was back in 2003 (2-1). It was a wet night in December, Lazio were playing in charcoal while Inter were playing in a flash yellow kit. The Milanese outfit took the lead thanks to Christian Vieri (30’), but Lazio then overturned the score through Bernardo Corradi (42’) and Luciano Zauri (82’). Since then 3 draws and 2 defeats have followed. Of course, as the day approaches, Inter always remember the 5th May 2002 as one of the worst points in their history. Also that day Lazio were supposed to give way to the Nerazzurri for Roma could win the league again. Thankfully, Juventus went 2-0 up in Udine in the very first minutes of the game, and Lazio fans could easily avoid making a favour to Roma.
Lazio have faced Inter 66 times in Rome, winning 21, drawing 28 and losing 17.

José Mourinho has beaten Lazio three times out of three in the League in a decreasing order:
2008/09 Lazio – Inter – 0-3
2008/09 Inter – Lazio – 2-0
2009/10 Inter – Lazio – 1-0
(Wanna bet this time is going to end 0-0?)

Lazio will probably have to make do without Floccari (left ankle) and former Inter man Julio Cruz (right hip). Zarate is ready to take the field from the start.
Goran Pandev and Wesley Sneijder are doubts for Inter.

Possible line-ups:
LAZIO (3-5-2): Muslera; Biava, Dias, Radu; Lichtsteiner, Brocchi, Baronio, Mauri, Kolarov; Zarate, Rocchi.
INTER (4-3-1-2): Julio Cesar; Maicon, Lucio, Samuel, Chivu; Zanetti, Cambiasso, Muntari; Stankovic; Eto’o, Milito.