Known to be the playmaker of the Inter Milan club, Wesley Sneijder is hoped to make a dramatic return to the team for a hard-hitting fight against the AC Milan. Sneijder is out of the club since November 2 when he had a pulled muscle problem but now fast recovering, he is good enough to make his return to the team. He may also be accompanied by two other mates, defender Andrea Ranocchia and midfielder Dejan Stankovic who were also injured and out of the team. The coach of the team Claudio Ranieri too seems to be quite confident of the team who has recently made triumph in its all last five matches. He also says that the pressure by them on Milan this time will be high.

Speaking about Milan, there are probabilities of the Brazilian striker Pato getting replaced by Robinho. It is an incident of Pato’s linking found and rumored with Paris Saint-Germain in the January transfer window as is alleged by the media of France and Italy. So, Pato has rested all the decision on the club and his future is very soon to be destined.

The Italian football club, AS Roma is more dependant and confident on the youth and they have, hence, continued to engage young players. A recent investment of the club is the Uruguayan striker Nicolas Lopez from Nacional, the Uruguayan sports institution.

The sporting director of Sampdoria, Pasquale Sensible, is seen speaking for the team’s captain Angelo Palombo. He exposed the fact that the club will consider suitable offers for the captain, if any.

Sensible considers Palombo as a sensitive lad and thinks that he makes the best of these situations. Not on;y this, Sensible admits that the European Cup finalists will sell if they happen to come across a good and the correct offer. He added that Palombo is the captain of the team as of now and if there is a change, he will let the world know about it. He also said “Today, every Sampdoria player must be willing to enter discussions with humility.”

Sensible gave a hint that the conditions are apt for a smooth transfer, when asked about the Napoli’s interest. He said that his relationship with Napoli’s sporting director Riccardo Bigon is perfect. They both want to grow and will make favourable changes to enhance the existing situation. The rumour in the air is that Fiorentina and Juventus, Palombo’s previous club, are keen to take the 30 year old player back.

If the three teams including AC Milan, AS Roma and FC Internazionale Milano couldn’t manage to remain in the round of 16, they will have to display some exceptional game to remain in competition.

With their defeat in the home ground in last month’s first leg, the three clubs could just finish second in their group. Amongst others, the loss of FC Internazionale Milano was the worst and added to the poor performances of the Italian side.

If we consider past history, it has just happened once in the UEFA Champions League that a side reversed its results in a post group stage.

But that’s in history. As far as this league is concerned it now remains to see if there is a way back for Italy’s finest in the serie A.

Montella was the replacement for Roma’s previous coach Claudio Ranieri. He was replaced after the team losses 4-3 to Genoa. However, the team had won a 3-0 game and lost a 3-2 game to the Ukrainian football club Shakhtar in the Champions League last week before replacing the coach.

Now, the coach urges that the team would work hard together for the future matches. Montella further stated that he would make the choices as far as choosing team and other things are concerned. However, he also stated that he is ready to take any responsibility if the things go wrong. He said that he is ready to hear everyone’s opinion but would like to make the decisions on his own.

Roma is at eighth position at present at the Serie A. The team has 39 points so far and it is ready to play its first match under the guidance of Montella against Bologna.

Catania, on the other hand, managed to hold a 5-1 win over Brescia in the all-Serie A clash. The club will now take on Juventus in the last 16. Amongst other interesting matches played in the fourth-round clash saw Bologna beat Cagliari 3-0 to meet Napoli in the next round. Moreover, last wednesday’s matches also saw Udinese knocking out Lecce and Genoa took extra-time to knock out Vicenza to win their respective matches.

After a disappointing season with Liverpool, Rafael Benitez has been appointed as the new coach of the European champions, Inter Milan. Benitez confirmed that he has signed a two year deal with the double winners of the last season. Benitez will take over from the dynamic Jose Mourinho, who drove his side to win the European league along with the Serie A title. For Benitez, it will be a challenge to fill his shoes and fact that he hasn’t had a great season with Liverpool might put some pressure on him.

A statement was issued by Inter saying confirming the deal which is on till June 2012. The statement also said that the Spaniard will be formally introduced as the coach through a press conference on June 15 in Appiano Gentile.

The club welcomes Benitez by applauding his contribution to the game and hailed him as one of the very best in Europe. Though the last season wasn’t good, he has delivered as a coach on several occasions, winning major titles. Benitez gets to play with great team and this should be a great opportunity for him to salvage some pride after last season’s disappointment.

It might have come as a surprise to many when he was announced as the next coach of the all conquering Inter Milan, but the club defended its decision by saying that Liverpool’s poor performance has nothing to do Benitez’s ability and commitment towards the game. It was unfortunate that things didn’t go the way they were planned for Benitez in Liverpool but Inter is confident. 

In an international friendly played at Cesena, a second string Italy side beat Sweden 1-0, with the help of the only goal scored by the centre-back Giorgio Chiellini. The world champions found it very hard to impose themselves on their disciplined opponents, who were also playing without their star player Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Sweden having already been ousted from World Cup qualification failed to make any impressions and seemed very unlikely to make a come back as a side that had glorious 1990s.

Marcello Lippi had major changes to the Italy side which played nearly to its full strength in their 0-0 draw against Netherlands. The Italy side hardly had any familiar faces in Cesena apart from Chiellini who of course is a regular in the main team. It promised to be an interesting game with Italy full of players hoping to make a mark before the World Cup and Sweden players trying to impress their new boss Erik Hamren. The action soon began and Italy was caught off guard only 3 minutes into the match when Tobias Hysen got passed the Italian offside trap. However, the one-handed save by Federico Marchetti denied the eventual.

Italy soon stamped their dominance on the match and Sweden had a narrow escape when Andreas Isaksson tipped a header from Chiellini over the bar. It was only in the 28th minute that Italy tested success when Chiellini made a diving header to post his second overall goal for the side. The second half of the game saw plenty of substitutions which made it very difficult for either side to create any chances.

The new coach of AC Milan is trying to rope in a big striker for his team to recover the loss of their dynamic player Kaka. Apparently his eyes are set on Peter Couch, who represents England and Brazilian stalwart Luis Fabiano. Pipo Inzaghi is close to his retirement and would find it very hard to play each and every game. So, the AC Milan fans would be hoping that Fabiano and Crouch join the team and quickly adapt to Serie A football.

Crouch, who played as Liverpool forward is known to be a fearless player with incredible skills while Fabiano who is a regular member of the Brazilian national team plays for Seville in La Liga. He was also the top goal scorer in the recently concluded Confederations Cup which was held in South Africa. These additions would surely boost the morale of the AC Milan team.

With AC Milan taking little interest in Emmanuel Adebayor because of his below par performance in the last season and high price tag, Fabiano and Crouch seem to be the expected additions. Ronaldinho and Alexandre Pato add really quality to the side and are very apt at providing support for a big player in the middle. Both Crouch and Fabiano have enough experience to adapt to this role. Crouch, during his days for Liverpool provided great support for Steven Gerrard and Fabiano too seems to thrive on players with flair. The combination of Fabiano and Robinho worked wonderfully to make some wonderful strike on more than one occasion in the Confederation Cup.

So, it will be interesting to see which player the Rossoneri final sign up this season where AC Milan would try and topple the Inter Milan’s domination.

Other Updates:

• Roma has made an opening bid for Fiorentina’s Adrian Mutu.
• The Mafia have reportedly tried to buy Lazio.
• French national and former Chelsea player Makalele has joined Paris-Saint German.
• Diego has defied his club Werder Bremer and has joined Brazil to play in the 2008 Olympic Games.

A look at the 2008 Beijing Games is coming up next!

• Ronaldo is staying at United after all. Maybe it was the words of Gordon Banks and Pele that made him re-think his decision or maybe it was Man U’s decision to keep him. Who knows? The only bit of news is, as of right now, Cristiano Ronaldo is still a red.
• Carlos Villanueva has joined the Premiership side Blackburn. The Chilean international looks to improve the Blackburn midfield this season.
• Frank Lampard has finally come to his decision: He wants a move to Inter. The only thing blocking him is Chelsea. Lampard has only a year left on his contract and since Chelsea has made no publicly known moves to extend him, he has looked elsewhere. Also, he is highly coveted by his old boss, Jose Mourinho.
• There are many reports out that are stating that Kaka would like to leave AC and join Chelsea. Whether these reports are true or not, Milan has said that Kaka is not for sale. Period.