Serie A: Ranieri in a quandry as Inter eye title

godtabh

Preview

Juventus coach Claudio Ranieri has a catch-22 situation on Sunday -- beat AC Milan and possibly hand rivals Inter the title, or lose at the San Siro and leave his job on the line.

The demanding Juve fans, who despise Inter more than any team, will be furious either way and can only hope Inter waste a possible opportunity by failing to win at Chievo (1300 GMT).

But if Jose Mourinho's side grab a victory in Verona, defeat for second-placed Milan in the late game (1930) will make Inter champions as they will be 10 points clear with three games left.

Media have speculated that Ranieri will be sacked at the end of the season whatever happens on Sunday after Juve failed to win their last five league games and dropped out of the title race.

Reports have said there was a dressing room mutiny at halftime of last weekend's 2-2 home draw with lowly Lecce but club chief executive Jean Claude Blanc has tried to take the sting out of the situation.

"It is normal when matches go wrong and top players do not manage to give their maximum, they feel frustrated and there can be moments of tension, which are down to the will to do well and give more," he told Sky.

Pavel Nedved, expected to retire at the end of the season, is banned from Sunday's game alongside defender Olof Mellberg while the match will be Milan captain Paolo Maldini's last against Juve before he retires at the end of May.

Juve are already planning for next season with media reports saying they have all but signed Werder Bremen playmaker Diego.

Inter, seemingly assured of a fourth straight scudetto for weeks, have also started thinking ahead with the future of top striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic the key issue.

The club have a chance on Sunday to find out what it would be like without the Swede, who is suspended.

Fourth-bottom Torino host third-bottom Bologna on Sunday (1300) in the big relegation clash.

Saturday, May 9, 2009
Status Home Score Away VENUE (ATT.)
Final Sampdoria 5 - 0 Reggina Comunale Luigi Ferraris (22,000)
Final Lazio 1 - 3 Udinese Stadio Olimpico (25,000)
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Status Home Score Away VENUE (ATT.)
Final Torino 1 - 1 Bologna Stadio Olimpico Grande Torino (22,000)
Final Catania 0 - 2 Fiorentina Stadio Angelo Massimino
Final Atalanta 1 - 1 Genoa Stadio Azzurri D`Italia (10,000)
Final Chievo Verona 2 - 2 Internazionale Stadio Marc`Antonio Bentegodi (29,000)
Final Lecce 1 - 1 Napoli Stadio Via del Mare (45,511)
Final Siena 1 - 0 Palermo Artemio Franchi (9,000)
90 min Cagliari 2 - 2 AS Roma Stadio San Elia
Time Home Away VENUE
19:30 UK AC Milan v Juventus Giuseppe Meazza

Major internet malfucntion

Come on Juve!

Local-womanizer

Cant see Juve getting a thing from the game.Havent won in 5,Milan have won last 5 games.

Kaka is coming back into form,supporting Pippo who has 11 goals in 8 games.Gattuso is back for the game aswell,and with Pato on the bench you can see no let up on attack throughout the game.Dida is also playing well lately.

The Juve defence is pretty much a shambles.Cant deal with anything.

Foza Milan!!

Quint

Chiellini is back for Juve and apparently Kalac is in goal for Milan.
Juve team:
Buffon
Grygera Legro Chiellini De Ceglie
Camoranesi Poulsen Zanetti Marchionni
Amauri Del Piero

I'd rather see Iaquinta to Amauri, I'm not an Amauri fan. Playing Marchionni on the left with Giovinco on the bench is criminal, Ranieri isn't to popular at the moment, that won't help.
Edit: that's not the official lineup, just a newspapers predicted, so there's hope Seba will start yet

Quint

Bet 365 are streaming the game, usually it's a top quality stream. You need to sign up, takes about 1 minute. Don't worry, you don't need to set up a betting account.
http://www.bet365.com/extra/?ContentPath=LiveStreaming%252cStreaming

Local-womanizer

Dida has been called up.I think he will start now.

Probable Milan Line Up:According to the papers.

Dida

Zambrotta Maldini Favalli Jankulovski


Beckham Pirlo Ambrosini


Seedorf

Kaka Inzaghi


Subs:Kalac,Flamini,Senderos,Ronaldinho,Gattuso,Pato,Shevchenko

Local-womanizer

Quint wrote: »

Bet 365 are streaming the game, usually it's a top quality stream. You need to sign up, takes about 1 minute. Don't worry, you don't need to set up a betting account.
http://www.bet365.com/extra/?ContentPath=LiveStreaming%252cStreaming

WilliamHill also have an excellent stream,same thing,sign up for free.I prefer them to bet365,has always worked better for me

19:30 kick-off

Btw,if Del Piero plays tonight it will be his 600th apperance.Congrats!

Local-womanizer

Official line-ups for tonight...

Milan: Kalac, Flamini, Maldini, Favalli, Zambrotta, Beckham, Pirlo, Ambrosini, Seedorf, Kaka, Inzaghi.
Juventus: Buffon, Grygera, Legrottaglie, Chiellini, De Ceglie, Camoranesi, Poulsen, Zanetti, Marchionni, Iaquinta, Amauri.

Quint

Local-womanizer wrote: »

Official line-ups for tonight...

Milan: Kalac, Flamini, Maldini, Favalli, Zambrotta, Beckham, Pirlo, Ambrosini, Seedorf, Kaka, Inzaghi.
Juventus: Buffon, Grygera, Legrottaglie, Chiellini, De Ceglie, Camoranesi, Poulsen, Zanetti, Marchionni, Iaquinta, Amauri.

Just saw them, no giovinco, no del piero. Ranieri will be lynched when he gets back to Turin tonight (unless Juve win)

godtabh

Doesnt matter if Juve win tonight. Inter drew 2-2 so will have to wait till next week but a win for Juve would do us wonders

Quint

It's really important for Juve. Fiorentina are only 1 point behind them, they'll want to finish second

Seaneh

Inter to draw next week and the week after and lose the final game, Milan to keep winning.

Fairytails can come true, the can happen to you (or, er, me!)!

Seaneh

=D

Seedorf ya beauty!

Trippie

ugh to iaquinta, super pippo will do the job no doubt though

Seaneh

kjlawdkj;lcbfAWBNAI[ODF w

So close

Poulsen should have been sent off about 3 times now!

Seaneh

raped twice in 10 seconds by the ref, legit peno denyed followed by Flav sent off for a second yellow that was never a yellow.

Quint

Another game without Giovinco, Ranieri out now!

Local-womanizer

A joke on behalf of the 2 teams,no passion or drive:mad:

Never been so annoyed at being a Milan fan!Seedorf is the biggest waster ever,did nothing,took all the pace out of every attack:mad:

Why did they start putting high balls up for Pippo when they where so effeective playing through the feet?!

Why did Kaka play out wide coming to the end of the game,the only player that can actually score from outside the box and he is out on the wing:mad:

I would have like to have seen Pato on at the start of the 2nd half,dident get enough time to influence the game.

As for Seedorf and Ronaldinho,get rid of them.Appaling,Inter drop points and them 2 labour around like its a kick a bout in the park.The worst thing is they still get paid for that crap:mad:

There was no stand out performers tonight,no passion.Kaka,Pippo and Flamini at least showed a bit of passion,Pirlo too,its a pity about the rest of them:mad:

So fecking annoyed:mad::mad:

Quint

That's why Giovinco should have been on for Juve, adds a bit of pace. How slow were Juve in the counter attack? They were walking forward when they had a 3 on 3 attack. I'd love if they stuck in a bid for Tevez. Looks like Diego is on his way, but Tevez is exactly the player they need

Local-womanizer

Quint wrote: »

That's why Giovinco should have been on for Juve, adds a bit of pace. How slow were Juve in the counter attack? They were walking forward when they had a 3 on 3 attack. I'd love if they stuck in a bid for Tevez. Looks like Diego is on his way, but Tevez is exactly the player they need

Yup,the game lack pace in the last 20 mins big time.Kaka and Pato tried.Juve had no-one,Iaquinta was out on his feet,ADP cant be expected to control the pace of the game at his age.Diego will be a great buy.

Id say Teves will go to Inter if he goes to Italy.

The 2 teams need a near total over-haul in the summer.

Quint

Local-womanizer wrote: »

The 2 teams need a near total over-haul in the summer.

Starting with Ranieri and Secco! Secco's record in the transfer market is woeful.
Despite his terrible passing, Sissoko is a loss for Juve's midfield. Poulsen and Zanetti aren't going to create anything

Local-womanizer

Quint wrote: »

Starting with Ranieri and Secco! Secco's record in the transfer market is woeful.
Despite his terrible passing, Sissoko is a loss for Juve's midfield. Poulsen and Zanetti aren't going to create anything

Secco and Ranieiri are clue-less.

Sissoko is one player I was very impressed with when he played,fought for evrything,protected that shoddy back line.He's a huge loss.

I mean,this season Inter where nothing special tbh.Milan and Juve seem to have an inability to take advantage of an Inter slip up.I cant see Inter dropping anymore points.

There was potental there for Milan to close the gap big time.5 points gap if we one tonight,Inter still have to go to Atalanta,a team that hammered them this season and Cagliari who are still in contention for a Europa cup,and Inter are known to choke under pressure.