Soccer:Inter Milan's Wesley Sneijder has made a timely recovery from a leg injury suffered at the weekend and should be fit to start against Barcelona for tomorrow night's Champions League semi-final second leg.
There were major doubts about whether the former Real Madrid midfielder would make the trip after he was forced off at half-time during Inter’s 3-1 Serie A victory over Atalanta at the weekend.
Inter later revealed Sneijder had “pulled the rectus femoris muscle in his left leg” and reports suggested he would definitely miss the match. However, the Holland international is now almost certain to feature after returning to training today.
Mario Balotelli has also been included in Jose Mourinho’s 25-man but it appears unlikely he will feature at the Nou Camp.
Balotelli has had a fraught relationship with Mourinho, underlined by his theatrics at the end of the first leg when he gestured to the crowd then threw his shirt to the ground.
With Barcelona’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic singled out for criticism in the wake of the Catalan giant’s 3-1 capitulation at the San Siro last week, Dutch great Johan Cruyff today paid the Swedish international something of a backhand compliment.
Ibrahimovic has "good technique for a bad player, bad technique for a good player," according to Cruyff.
"You have to get more out of the qualities you have," the former Barcelona player and coach and the club's honorary president said in an interview with a Swedish newspaper.
"You have to be effective," Cruyff added in a reference to the striker, "especially if you come to a big club from another country. The biggest and hardest steps are the mental ones."
Cruyff said he was confident his side could overturn their deficit tomorrow and took a swipe at Inter coach Mourinho.
"Mourinho is a good coach but I don't like the way he coaches," he said. "I'm a bigger fan of coaches like (Frank) Riijkaard, (Barcelona's Pep) Guardiola - gentlemen. I think this sport is about something more than just winning."