Five points from the last eighteen available- no kidding we're in third. Thankfully, Udinese continued their winning ways and defeated the Rossoneri 2-1 this evening to close the gap between us and second to just four points. The rest is up to us.
For this one we get back Goldie Locks and Mellberg, but lose Chiellini to a suspension and Marchisio to a small injury. De Ceglie and Grygera have recovered fully and join the list of 20 players called-up: 1 Buffon 4 Mellberg 5 Zebina 6 Zanetti 8 Amauri 9 Iaquinta 10 Del Piero 11 Nedved 12 Chimenti 13 Manninger 16 Camoranesi 17 Trezeguet 18 Poulsen 20 Giovinco 21 Grygera 29 De Ceglie 30 Tiago 32 Marchionni 33 Legrottaglie 41 Ariaudo.
Probable line-up:
Amauri Iaquina
Nedved Zanetti Poulsen Camoranesi
De Ceglie Mellberg Legrottaglie Grygera
Buffon
Ranieri on the game:"Now we will be playing against Atalanta, a compact team. Del Neri teams play restricted to 30 meters. We will have to field will and determination because they have nothing to lose and therefore will be aggressive and will base their play on counter-attack. We have to try to get back the second place and at the same time keep an eye on Fiorentina who are close behind us. It all depends on us".
Hmmm... so we need to win and Del Neri knows our counter-attack is our Achilles' heel. This should be fun. What does Ranieri tell his men if there's 10 minutes to go and they're still tied at zero with no fans to help their cause? Well after he subs on Zebina for Grygera and waits 9 minutes to bring in Poulsen ahead of Giovinco, he better tell them to push up and go for goal. That is if he still values his job.
Btw, congrats Inter on another Scudetto. Feels a lot better if you win them on the field, no? Also come Monday/Tuesday we'll have our Juventus Offside version of a Diego post up, culminating all the rumours (and your comments) in the last two years about him. Until then bianconeri...
IERI... OGGI... DOMANI... SEMPRE JUVE!!!