Inter Milan vs Barcelona - Barca's road trip won't matter - Mourinho
Posted Tuesday, April 20, 2010 by PA
Inter Milan coach Jose Mourinho does not believe his side will gain any advantage from Barcelona's disrupted build-up to Tuesday night's Champions League semi-final first leg at the San Siro.
Barca's high-profile stars were forced to undertake a 600-mile coach trip to Milan due to the air travel restrictions in force across Europe caused by the ash cloud from the Icelandic volcano.
The reigning European champions began their journey Sunday afternoon and did not arrive in northern Italy until earlier on Monday following an overnight stopover in the French resort of Cannes.
But Mourinho is confident Barca will be unaffected by the alterations to their travel plans.
"I don't think it will matter," said the former Chelsea boss. "It is their body, their mind that has to respond.
"If it happened to me, I would try to transform a problem into motivation, something to enjoy, to have the squad together due to a difficulty.
"It doesn't seem like a drama to me."
With Barca having successfully sidestepped the affects of one force of nature, speculation now switches to another, with Lionel Messi expected to take centre stage again.
The Argentina international has been in stunning form during Barca's run to the last four, scoring eight goals, four of which came in the quarter-final demolition of Arsenal earlier this month.
Messi has netted 40 times in all competitions this season and Mourinho admits it is difficult to know how to handle his threat given the fluid tactics employed by Barca coach Pep Guardiola.
"Above all let's see how they play because I don't know," Mourinho said. "None of us know. He could play right, left, centre. We don't know.
"What we know is that he is an important player and football, for me, is not about marking man to man. It's not for me.
"Tuesday it is not one against Messi and 10 v 10, it will be 11 v 11, although he deserves special attention."
Left-back Davide Santon and goalkeeper Francesco Toldo are the only absentees for Inter, while Mourinho is expected to decide whether or not to move full-back Maicon into a more advanced role to bolster his midfield.
Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola admitted the travel situation was not ideal, but insisted it would not alter his side's will to win, and certainly would not be used as an excuse.
"We want to show that we are coming here to play our usual game and try to score as many goals as we can," Guardiola said.
"We try to do that wherever we are. We have got to always be ourselves and we have got to aim to win.
"We could have stayed at home and we would have lost the game 3-0 because UEFA say we have to be here, so we are here and we are here to win."
Full-back Daniel Alves missed last season's final due to suspension and is understandably keen to first reach the final, and then be available to play in it.
The fact that the final takes place at the home of Barca's bitter rivals Real Madrid is not an issue, however.
"I suffered a lot last season being out and I think it's hard to find anybody more motivated to play in the final than me," he said.
"It would be a Champions League final and we would be delighted to be in it and that is more important than the location."
Like Guardiola, Alves has put the emphasis on Barca playing their usual game, even though they are away from home in the first leg.
Scoring a goal is the priority, but scoring more than one would be perfect.
"We obviously hope to be in a position to take the game back to Barcelona in a position to win it," he said.
"Inter are at home in front of their own fans so we have to play our own game with our possession of the ball and hope to score."
- Tag:
- Inter Milan
- Barcelona
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