Claudio Ranieri, the Roma coach, does not believe city rivals Lazio, who are still not safe from relegation, would purposely lose at home to leaders Inter Milan tomorrow just to hit his side's title hopes, as had been suggested by some of the Italian press. "Lazio v Inter won't be a distorted game," Ranieri told a news conference. "Lazio will play their best in order to gain the satisfaction of beating the top team. It won't be like winning a Rome derby but it will still be satisfying for them."
Roma, who visit Parma today, trail Inter by two points in Serie A with three games left. Leonardo, AC Milan's coach, has fuelled speculation he will leave at the end of the season after owner Silvio Berlusconi was reported to have made remarks about the Brazilian's departure. "I don't know what Berlusconi said but I can't deny that our relationship is difficult. We are very different, maybe we are incompatible but the important thing is these next three games," Leonardo told a news conference yesterday.
Elsewhere, Bayern Munich yesterday lodged their appeal against Franck Ribery's three-match European ban for his sending-off in the Champions league semi-final first leg against Lyon. The France winger was red-carded after catching Lisandro Lopez with a high tackle and sat out the second leg, and is also set to miss the final against Inter Milan on May 22 after Uefa's control and disciplinary body extended the automatic one-match ban to three on Wednesday.
Ribery will be accompanied by club directors to a hearing on Wednesday at which he will present his version of the incident. * Agencies Parma v Roma, 8pm, Aljazeera Sport + 1
