It's the opening of the P.U.P.I charity shop featuring the Inter Milan Wives - Claudia Cambiasso, Sofia Milito, Cecilia Samuel, Paula Zanetti and Javier Zanetti! / by Vittorio Zunino Celotto

Inter have succeeded in completing a historic treble and credit must be given to everyone at the club from president Massimo Moratti for his persistence in pursuing the dream of emulating his father by winning the Champions League to Jose Mourinho for his exemplary preparation ahead of keys matches and for his superior motivational skills.

Inter have succeeded in completing a historic treble and credit must be given to everyone at the club from president Massimo Moratti for his persistence in pursuing the dream of emulating his father by winning the Champions League to Jose Mourinho for his exemplary preparation ahead of keys matches and for his superior motivational skills.

by John Carlton
On a steamy Thursday night at Pizza Hut Park in Frisco, FC Dallas scraped a 2-2 draw against UEFA Champions Inter Milan. The Italian giants fielded something akin to their starting lineup with Eto'o, Maicon, Milito and Cambiasso among the superstars on display.

During the recent World Cup the newest popular formation was the 4-2-3-1. Don't you dare call it a 4-5-1 or a 4-3-3! Spain, the Netherlands, and Germany, the top 3 teams in the tournament, all generally played the same 4-2-3-1 attacking formation.

Although two other disappointing teams from South America, Brazil and Argentina, also played the same formation, some of their sub-par performance may have been due to their coaches' inexplicable tendency to prove that they could win without some of their best players.

There have always been nicknames in soccer. Most players have nicknames, whether the are created by the media, the fans, coaches, other players, there are nicknames everywhere. Then there are the nicknames you make for players you hate. Those are always the most fun. (Like last season with Klaas-Jan Junkelaar).

FC Barcelona needs to Produce a Magical Night against Inter Milan

So, the stage is set of this all conquering FC Barcelona side to overcome one of the biggest challenges in last two years. After losing the first leg away 3-1 at San Siro, FC Barcelona have to do it all at Nou Camp now. A failure to do that will see the dream of retaining the Champions league crown at our rivals home ending.

With the World Cup over, it's time to trudge back to the domestic game, and Sky Italia is livening up our expectations with an ad campaign featuring calcio stars in various states of unathleticness (if that wasn't a word, it is now). Fat, greasy, bald, toothless, unkempt anything which you wouldn't normally associate with someone who gets paid to play sports for a living.

Is that Silvio Berlusconi celebrating with the Inter players after their win in yesterday's derby?

No, it's an Inter player with a Berlusconi mask on.

A great win and day yesterday for el Pupi Zanetti, Cambiasso, Milito, Samuel and the rest of the Inter team.

This is amazing. Inter Milan manager Jose Mourinho has been banned from the touchline for three games by the Italian FA after making a handcuffs gesture in Saturday's 0-0 draw with Sampdoria.

Mourinho will have to watch the games against Udinese, Genoa and Catania from the stands.

In addition to the Mourinho suspension, Inter players were also be missing some Serie A games.

Goalkeeper: Hugo Lloris (Lyon)

With six saves against Real Madrid including a fine save off of a Ronaldo strike, the French international was a major player in Lyon's victory.

Left Back: Per Kroldrup (Fiorentina)

Kroldrup scored the important away goal for La Viola and couldn't be blamed for either Munich goal.

It's hard to ignore the fact that Premier League clubs spent a lot less than usual last summer, and suddenly we have no English teams in the Champions League semi-finals for the first time since 2003. The two events may or may not be related. If the Premier League is in some sort of decline due to the pound vs the euro exchange rate, the debts of big clubs or whatever else, then the big silver lining as far as I'm concerned (as an England fan) is that maybe our players will start looking abroad for big paychecks again.

Inter were expected to emerge from this tie with relative ease yet the first-leg in Milan showed the Russian team will not give up without a fight. The Nerazzurri were able to record a 1-0 victory and will play in Moscow having secured only a slender lead. The Italian champions will probably focus on scoring a goal early on in order kill off the resistance of CSKA and play the rest of the match with a more comfortable cushion considering an Inter goal would require the Russians to respond with three goals if they wanted to qualify.

Barca players try to loosen up for Tuesday's match.

Barcelona arrived in Milan by coach on Monday after having their flight cancelled due to the volcanic ash in the air. The Blaugrana made the 1,000 kilometre trek over two days and now will prepare in Milan for their showdown with Jose Mourinho's men.

Inter Milan 3 - 1 Barcelona(0-1) 19' Pedro, (1-1) 29' Sneijder, (2-1) 49' Maicon, (3-1) 60' Milito
They could well point to an arduous 14 hour bus journey. Or even an atrocious display of refereeing from Olegário Benquerença. But the brutal reality of tonights Champions League semi-final is that Barcelona were second best to an inspired Inter Milan.

The Camp Nou will be the venue when Barcelona host Inter in the second-leg of the Champions League semi-final. In Milan, Inter were able to score a fantastic 3-1 win after trailing 1-0 against the European champions. One player who has been instrumental for the Nerazzurri in Europe is Wesley Sneijder yet the Dutch playmaker might miss the return leg in Spain due to injury.

Barcelona 1 - 0 Inter Milan
(1-0) Pique 84'
What an anticlimax. All that build up. All that bravado. All that expectation. The fans fulfilled their obligation, cloaking the Camp Nou in blue and red, bombarding the Inter players with a wall of noise as they entered into the arena.

Zanetti, Cambiasso, Milito and Samuel celebrate Inter advancing to the Champions League Final.

Diego Maradona makes odd decisions.

Win the Club Shirt Of Your Choice Simply by Speaking Your Mind!

Inter Milan duo Esteban Cambiasso and Javier Zanetti have been left out of Argentina's provisional 30-man squad for this summer's World Cup.

Not content with leaving Esteban Cambiasso and Javier Zanetti out of his provisional World Cup squad, Diego Maradona has gone one further in his single-minded attempt to prove to the world that he is, frankly, as mad as a box of frogs.Yesterday, Maradona announced his twenty three man squad and -bizarrely among those to make the final cut - were old time and frankly rubbish striker Martin Palermo

Two World Cup favourites played friendlies on Monday night and got the results they wanted. England beat Mexico without playing particularly well and Argentina clobbered Canada without Messi, Milito and Samuel.
After announcing Argentina's squad of 23 last week, Maradona had this to say after winning 5-0 in Buenos Aires.

ROME, Italy — Inter Milan slumped to a dispiriting 3-1 defeat at Lazio on Friday leaving coach Rafael Benitez under renewed pressure just as the former Liverpool boss thought he had turned the corner with the Serie A and European champions. Inter, who face a trip to the Middle East for the World Club Cup [.

Nell'anticipo serale, valido per la 19° giornata della Serie A, l'Inter affronta a San Siro il Siena, fanalino di coda del torneo e reduce dal risultato pesante rimediato nel derby (5 a 1 per i viola di Prandelli). Un momentaccio per Malesani che, ieri, si è sfogato apertamente in sala stampa ("Sono a Siena da un mese e mezzo, non ho la mano magica ma un progetto che è partito tra le contestazioni, probelmi di ogni tipo, il cambio di propriet e ora anche il mercato").

Il Bari rivelazione, di Ventura, e l'Inter capolista, di Mourinho, si affrontano stasera nel secondo anticipo di Serie A. I"galletti" hanno disputato, fino a questo momento, un campionato eccelso, conquistando ben 27 punti (che vale l'undicesima posizione in classifica) e subendo solamente 17 reti, miglior difesa in coabitazione proprio con i nerazzurri e la Fiorentina.

With ESPN's announcement yesterday about their World Cup coverage I figured it would be a good time to show some past World Cup goals. How about these beauties from the 2006 World Cup!

Wow, how many times did Argentina pass the ball before Cambiasso scored?? That was awesome!

Hard to pick a favorite.

(video gol highlights)
TABELLINO
INTER: Toldo, Maicon, Materazzi, Lucio, Santon, Zanetti, Cambiasso (16'st Milito), Motta, Sneijder, Balotelli, Pandev (35'st Muntari). A disp.: Orlandoni, Cordoba, Samuel, , Quaresma, Muntari, Arnaoutovic, Eto'o. All.: Mourinho.
JUVENTUS: Buffon, Grygera, Cannavaro, Chiellini, Grosso, Candreva, Melo, Sissoko, Diego, De Ceglie (47'st Paolucci), Amauri.

(video gol highlights)
IL TABELLINO:
INTER (4-3-3): Julio Cesar; Maicon, Cordoba, Samuel, Santon; Zanetti, Cambiasso, Thiago Motta (dal 30' st Mariga); Pandev, Milito (dal 38' st Balotelli), Eto'o (15' st Muntari). (Toldo, Materazzi, Krhin, Quaresma). All. Mourinho.
CAGLIARI (4-3-1-2): Agazzi; Dessena, Canini, Astori, Agostini; Biondini (dall'11' st Barone), Conti, Lazzari; Jeda (dal 38' st Nainggolan), Nené (dal 15' st Larrivey), Matri.

(video gol highlights)
IL TABELLINO:
PARMA: Mirante, Castellini, Dellafiore, Lucarelli, Zaccardo, Galloppa (75' Antonelli), Jimenez, Morrone, Valiani, Biabiany, Bojinov (68' Paloschi) A disp.: Pavarini, Galassi, Antonelli, Lunardini, Zenoni, Lanzafame, Paloschi, Pasi All. Guidolin.

(highlights)
IL TABELLINO:
NAPOLI: De Sanctis, Campagnaro, Cannavaro, Grava, Zuniga (35'st Cigarini sv), Pazienza, Gargano, Aronica, Hamsik, Quagliarella, Denis. A disp.: Iezzo, Rinaudo, Dossena, Rullo, Bogliacino, Hoffer. All.: Mazzarri.
INTER: Julio Cesar, Maicon, Lucio, Samuel, Santon, J.

Il grande giorno è arrivato.
Questa sera, a San Siro, scenderanno in campo Inter e Chelsea nell'andata degli ottavi di Champions League (ore 20 e 45).
Dopo le grandi polemiche seguite alla sfida con la Sampdoria in Serie A e la stangata all'Inter (3 giornate a Mourinho, 2 a Cambiasso e Muntari, una a Samuel e Cordoba), stasera la mente e il cuore vanno all'impegno europeo e alla ricerca di un risultato che si potrebbe rivelare fondamentale nella stagione di ambedue le squadre.

So the million dollar question for you Greaseañies today is WOULD YOU TAP THAT? Well, mano looked pretty clean cut at at the launch of his "I'm wearing this for the World Cup" Nike boot launch yesterday. And the Portugal jacket looks ridiculously comfortable (almost like the blue/white selecao bootcamp ones!

Absolute cracker of the goal from Inter's Argentine International Cambiasso securing the victory for Mourinho's men. If you haven't watched this one yet I highly suggest you find an online recording...
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Il ricorso dell'Inter, avverso le squalifiche di José Mourinho (per le famose manette; in foto) e Esteban Cambiasso (3 giornate per il portoghese, due al mediano argentino) non ha regalato buone notizie a Moratti e alla dirigenza del biscione.
Niente sconti per i due, sono state dunque confermate le decisioni prese dalla giustizia sportiva.

Stasera, nell'anticipo di Serie A, l'Inter fa visita al Catania dell'ex Mihajlovic (2004-2006 da giocatore, e poi fino al 2008 nel ruolo di vice di Mancini).
Una sfida appetitosa e per nulla scontata, con gli etnei impegnati nella lotta per non retrocedere e i nerazzurri, invece, "obbligati" a vincere per respingere gli eventuali assalti delle inseguitrici (Milan e Roma su tutte), ma dietro l'angolo c'è la Champions e la gara di ritorno con il Chelsea.

Inter Milan vs. CSKA Moscow Venue: San Siro (Milan, Italy) Inter Milan: 4-3-3 GK: Cesar Defenders: Maicon, Cordoba, Samuel, Chivu Midfielders: Sneijder, Cambiasso, Zanetti Forwards: Eto'o, Milito,...
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La Liga leaders Barcelona will travel to Milan to take on Inter in the highly anticipated clash between two of the best teams left in the European competitions. The current champions Barca rely heavily on midfield schemer Xavi Hernandez and superstar Lionel Messi while Inter will be attempting to reach the final in Madrid to win their third title in the top European event.

The first leg of the Champions League Semi-Finals gets under way today.

Barcelona is away in Milan to take on Inter.

Messi will be in Barca's starting eleven and Gaby Milito will be on the bench. For Inter, Diego Milito, Samuel, Cambiasso and Zanetti will be in the starting lineup.

Amazing fun at the San Siro. When Barca have the ball against most teams it seems like they have too many players; today, it felt like Inter had too many defenders.

The amazing thing was the regularity with which the Inter defenders anticipated tiny little nicks. They'd have a man challenge the runner, that man would invariably get half a foot on the ball, which would then go to a second Inter player.

Inter Milan stunned Barcelona to take a 3-1 first-leg lead in their UEFA Champions League semi-final.

José Mourinho's team inflicted only a fourth defeat of the season on a Barcelona side bidding to make modern history by retaining the trophy. Instead, the goals from Wesley Sneijder, Maicon and Diego Milito, in response to Pedro Rodríguez's away goal, will greatly encourage Inter's own dream of a first European crown since 1965.

Inter were far superior to Barca in every department

The disappointment from the thumping that Barca received from Inter has not yet subsided but still this may be the right time to see what went wrong. To list the factors which went wrong may take a bigger post, but still Barca were found completely lagging behind in all department to an ultra organised Inter Milan side.