Picking up the pieces
Downward spiralling Inter seek second wind at Marseille
MARSEILLE: For Inter Milan, today’s Champions League last 16 encounter with Marseille at Stade Velodrome represents an opportunity to rejuvenate a campaign that is unravelling at bewildering speed.
Both sides enjoyed similar fortunes in their respective domestic leagues during the first half of the season – starting poorly before rallying in the autumn – but their paths have since diverged sharply.
Marseille’s push for a top-three finish in Ligue 1 may have been stalled by draws in their last two outings, but theyre main unbeaten since november 23 and are still competing on four fronts.
Inter’s malediction is rather more severe.
Having won nine games out of 10 either side of Christmas to reinvigorate their bid for a Champions League place, Claudio Ranieri’s side have hit the skids in recent weeks and have not won in six games in all competitions.
In Serie A they have taken one point from a possible 15 – sliding to seventh place in the process – and after a 4-0 mauling at Roma, their last two games saw them lose, at home, to second-bottom Novara and relegation-threatened Bologna.
Friday night’s 3-0 reverse against Bologna was too much for president Massimo Moratti, who stormed from his San Siro seat 10 minutes before the end.
Moratti’s sudden exit has perhaps inevitably prompted speculation about Ranieri’s job security, but his opposite number at Marseille is expecting to face a different Inter in today’s first leg.
“They’re on a negative run but I know that on Wednesday I won’t see the same team as the one I’ve seen in recentweeks,” said didier des champs, whose side sit fourth in Ligue 1 after drawing 1-1 at home to Valenciennes on Saturday.
“The championship is dead for them, so Wednesday is their objective. They won’t solve their problems overnight, but they’re an Italian team, so it’s never straightforward.”
A Champions League winner in 1996 with Juventus, who he later coached, Deschamps is well versed in Italian football and boasted a record of nine wins from 10 games against the Nerazzurri during his time in Turin.
Deschamps previously got the better of Ranieri when he led Monaco to a shock win over the Italian’s Chelsea side in the semi-finals of the 2003-04 competition, but he is yet to take Marseille to the latter stages.
The sides have met just twice before, in the quarter-finals of the 2003-04 UEFA Cup, when Marseille prevailed 2-0 on aggregate before eventually falling to Valencia in the final.