Boot on the other foot in Europe

Ian Hawkey

• Last Updated: November 23. 2009 8:24PM UAE / November 23. 2009 4:24PM GMT

It is crunch time in the European Champions League, a make-or-break two days for a number of teams far more used to waiting until at least February before the threat of elimination from the most prestigious club competition becomes a genuine risk.

Liverpool are in serious danger. So are Bayern Munich, title-holders Barcelona and Olympique Marseille.

So now note the exception to that list of giants quite likely to be slain. It is the Italian quartet of clubs. The Serie A brigade find themselves, ahead of Matchday Five, in positions of enviable comfort, a status that might surprise critics who have been writing the obituaries of Italian club football over the past few years.

In all, Italy’s teams are better placed than any country to send a full complement through to the knockout phase. Milan and Inter sit top of their groups, Juventus and Fiorentina sit second in theirs.

It is too early to label this a renaissance, but it is certainly a strong answer to speculation that Italy’s Serie A was in danger of falling from third place – behind England’s Premier League and Spain’s Primera Liga – in the hierarchy of European leagues and, with that, losing one of its four spots in the Champions League.

Suffice to say the Bundesliga, ranked fourth, is fluffing its chance to catch up, with Bayern and Stuttgart both likely to miss out of the last 16.

As for challenging the English, Fiorentina have already beaten Liverpool comfortably. The Italian-Spanish duels lean, so far, in Italy’s favour, Milan having beaten Real Madrid in Spain and drawn with them at home.

Tonight is the big one. Inter go to Barcelona’s Camp Nou top of Group F, with the reigning European and Spanish champions two spots behind them. The group is devilishly tight and Barcelona, missing high-profile players, will be wary enough from past battles with Jose Mourinho to fear the cunning of the Inter coach.

The Serie A leaders are in form, too, with five wins in their last six outings, including a dramatic comeback at Dynamo Kiev, a retort to the growing notion that they were a schizophrenic team: imperious in Italy, timid in Europe.

Now, there is seldom anything timid about Mourinho when he turns up in Barcelona where he once lived and worked. “I always have a smile on my face when I land here,” he declared as Inter’s travelling party arrived in the city a full 48 hours ahead of the fixture. Then he added: “Even if I get whistled by people here.”

In September, Mourinho’s Inter drew 0-0 with Barcelona in Milan, and in that tie did conform to the image of the anxious, stale Inter of Mourinho in Europe. Tonight would be different, Mourinho promised. His comments, designed to put uncertainty into the minds of his oppon-ents, centred on Inter’s effectiveness on the road. Of eight away matches this season in Europe and in Serie A they have lost only one. In Serie A they have accumulated 16 goals as the away team in six matches.

“Are we actually a stronger side when we’re not at home?” asked Mourinho. “We certainly win a lot away from home and score a good amount of goals.”

Wesley Sneijder, rested lately with this fixture in mind, should be ready to start for Inter, one of three former Real Madrid players in the visiting squad. As for the fleet of old Barca players in Inter’s ranks, there are plenty, including midfielder Thiago Motta, who is still respected there. As for Samuel Eto’o, he should receive a very warm ovation from the crowd he thrilled for five years. If he scores, he will not celebrate, he says – but you can bet Mr Mourinho will celebrate vividly.

ihawkey@thenational.ae