Inter Milan v Marseille (agg 0-1)
INTER MILAN BROKE their poor run of form just in time for their Champions League round-of-16 second-leg against Marseille on Tuesday.
Claudio Ranieri’s men were winless in nine matches in all competitions before recording a 2-0 victory at Chievo in Serie A on Friday.
The win eased the pressure on the under-fire Ranieri, although failure to overturn a 1-0 deficit against Marseille could spell the end for the Italian manager.
Inter Milan president Massimo Moratti again threw his support behind Ranieri after goals from Walter Samuel and Diego Milito gave the Serie A giants a much-needed win against Chievo.
“It’s not easy for a coach to read in the papers every day that there’s a new coach coming in to replace him,” Moratti told Sky Sport Italia.”Ranieri is professional, he’s getting on with his job and he has my complete support in this difficult time that he’s experiencing and that we’re trying to get through.”
With the likes of Wesley Sneijder, Diego Forlan and Milito in his side, Ranieri would expect his team to overcome Marseille in the second leg.
Since the 1-0 win over Inter on February 22, Marseille have lost four straight Ligue 1 matches to slip to eighth on the table.
Didier Deschamps’ men have failed to score in all four of those outings, although star forward Loic Remy returned from injury to play 45 minutes in the loss to Ajaccio on Friday.
Remy, who has been linked with a move to Tottenham, will provide the spark Marseille have been missing in recent league outings.
Marseille have been unable to advance to the last eight of the Champions League since winning the competition in 1993.
An early goal at the San Siro would be a huge advantage for Marseille, but their recent struggles in attack suggest they will find it difficult to break through.
Ranieri will be desperate to see his side progress to the quarter-finals to ease the pressure on his position.
Bayern Munich v FC Basel (agg 0-1)
Star trio Arjen Robben, Mario Gomez and Jerome Boateng are battling to be fit for Tuesday’s Champions League clash with FC Basel.
Bayern are aiming to overturn a 1-0 first-leg deficit against the Swiss side.
Striker Gomez netted a hat-trick, his 11th for the club in the Bundesliga, during Bayern’s 7-1 hammering of Hoffenheim on Saturday, but came off after 57 minutes with a cut above his ankle.
“I have a hole in my shin,” he said.”It looked bad, but fortunately it’s nothing serious. There’s nothing broken and nothing torn, so it’s no problem,” said of the incident after he scored Bayern’s first goal in the fifth minute.
Winger Robben, who has been injury prone this season after groin and back problems, needed prolonged treatment during the game having scored twice against Hoffenheim, but completed the 90 minutes.
Defender Jerome Boateng came off at half-time after straining a leg muscle.
“He’s not torn anything, a muscle has just gone tight,” manager Jupp Heynckes said.
Meanwhile, Bayern were buoyed by the return of Germany star Bastian Schweinsteiger for the final 20 minutes against Hoffenheim, a month after he tore ankle ligaments.
“I am glad that I got some time on the pitch, I felt good,” Schweinsteiger said.”I’m ready (for Basel).”
“Basel is a very important game for the way the rest of the season will run. We have to do that again against Basel,” Munich president Uli Hoeness told German television channel ZDF after the Hoffenheim win.
Meanwhile, Basel will be determined to defend their slender advantage, with a place in the quarter-finals up for grabs, a situation they have only been in once before.
Basel, who are dominating Swiss football, were last beaten in the Swiss league in August and their opening goal in Zurich was scored by future Bayern midfielder Xherdan Shaqiri, who will come to Munich at the end of the summer.
While Bayern may have got their swagger back following last weekend’s 2-0 defeat at Bayer Leverkusen, Basel, under ex-Bayern youth coach Heiko Vogel, are currently dominating Swiss football.
They arrive in Munich on the back of a morale-boosting win after a 2-0 victory at Grasshoppers Zurich over the weekend that put them 12 points clear at the top of the Swiss Super league.
