SOCCER:WHEN INTERNAZIONALE appointed Jose Mourinho they were going to great expense to buy credibility. It is the manager's personal prestige that will supply much of the allure in the Champions League tie against Manchester United.
The immediate image that burst into the mind yesterday was of Mourinho, with coat flapping, celebrating the last-minute goal from Costinha at Old Trafford that won the last-16 tie for Porto in 2004. That moment was the making of Mourinho - Porto were never behind again in the competition that season and beat Monaco efficiently in the final.
His talent will now be put to a severe test. Arsenal are to meet Roma and Chelsea will face Juventus, but it is Inter who carry a reputation that could be damaged in this collision with United, the Champions League holders. Mourinho's side is certainly thriving in Serie A, having won seven consecutive games to head the table by half a dozen points from Juventus. These are facts that would have glowed with significance in years gone by, but the contest has a more parochial tone now.
The Champions League has delivered harsh verdicts on Serie A in recent seasons. Milan, possessors of an excellent squad that gradually decayed, had been upholding the country's honour for quite a while until failing to qualify for the tournament this season. They have been the only Serie A club to get to the last four of the Champions League or beyond in the past five seasons.
Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United were all in the semi-finals both this year and last. It would be puerile for English football to take a triumphalist stance over all this. Most people will easily recall a time when Premier League clubs habitually floundered in the Champions League.
Circumstances have changed for the better, but there will be deterioration sooner or later. That is intrinsic to the life-cycle of sport. Even so, Italy has more to do than merely wait its turn. Mourinho is supervising the delivery of a fourth consecutive Scudetto. The first, in Roberto Mancini's time, was secured after Inter had initially come third behind Juventus and Milan in 2005/06.
The latter two clubs were then punished in the match-fixing scandal. All of that entrenched the sense of a sport gone to seed in Italy.
Juventus have been yearning to demolish the Stadio delle Alpi ever since it was built for the 1990 World Cup and most grounds are undistinguished. Hooliganism has been confronted less successfully than in other countries.
The worth of native players is not to be doubted, considering Italy are the World Cup holders, but prowess in the eclectic Champions League now rests to some extent on the calibre of the imported players. Mourinho's squad is far from negligible, yet it should still be at a marked disadvantage against United.
Consider the attackers fielded in the most recent domestic fixtures for each club. In the match with Chievo, Inter sent out Zlatan Ibrahimovic, backed by Dejan Stankovic and the newcomer Victor Obinna. Alex Ferguson chose Cristiano Ronaldo, Dimitar Berbatov and Carlos Tevez. United may have drawn 0-0 at White Hart Lane, but it is most unlikely that the Scot would swap strikeforces with Mourinho. While the Portuguese could have been coasting in the Champions League, eight points was a shoddy total and it did him little credit to finish behind Panathinaikos in the group.
The critical rivalry for England now lies with Spain and there will be particular relief at Arsenal and Chelsea that they have avoided the outstanding Barcelona. Despite the aura surrounding the tie, there could have been worse fates for Liverpool than taking on Real Madrid.
It is hard to guess how much the new manager Juande Ramos can achieve at the Bernabeu between now and February, but his charges are sixth in La Liga, a dozen points short of Barcelona. If anything, it is domestic success that will be a burden on Rafael Benitez if Liverpool stay in the thick of the battle for the Premier League. Chelsea, too, should have domestic considerations to the fore then, but there will still be a pause to take in the return of Claudio Ranieri to Stamford Bridge with Juventus.
Ranieri's team selections during his reign may have seemed the work of a compulsive fidget, but there was an overall improvement. While the coach will always be linked to the mishandling of Chelsea's 2004 Champions League semi-final with Monaco, he is a survivor. At the outset of this season, Mourinho scoffed that Ranieri, at 54, was "too old", but a pair of victories over Real in the Champions League group suggested that the Italian is not exactly obsolete.
The incumbent at Stamford Bridge, Luiz Felipe Scolari, had one of his disquieting occasions when losing 3-1 to the counter-attacking Roma. That was all the more unsettling because Chelsea had appeared in command for half an hour. While Arsenal should be wary of Roma it is their own difficulties as much as the prowess of the opposition that could perturb Arsène Wenger.
The England head coach Fabio Capello said the Champions League draw "has been diabolical". "I didn't expect the three Italians teams to be drawn with English teams. But they are games that'll bring numerous suggestions and impossible predictions. It will be difficult for Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United but it will be equally difficult for Roma, Juve and Inter," said the Italian.
