Uefa Cup Preview: Benfica-Inter
Inter travel to A Luz in Lisbon to face Benfica in the first leg of the Uefa Cup fourth round.
Both teams are passing through a bad league form with Benfica in third place 14 points adrift of league leaders Porto while Inter lie in seventh place, fighting for the last possible Champions League spot and having lost their last 4 consecutive Serie A matches. Therefore this comPetition has become important for both Benfica and Inter who see it as their only chance for silverware this season.
The home team made it to this stage thanks to wins in the previous rounds against La Louviere, Molde and Rosenborg without impressing much. In the last round against Rosenborg they were only able to go through thanks to the away goal rule.
After crashing out of the Champions League, Inter made itto the Uefa thanks to their third spot placing in Europe's most important competition and therefore skipped the first two Uefa Cup rounds. The only match they played up till now in this competition was against Sochaux and even in this case, an away goal was the deciding factor for the qualification.
This match brings great memories to Inter, as Benfica was the team they defeated in the 194/65 Champions Cup season to win their last trophy in that competition.
Camacho will not be able to play with Mantorras and Argel who are both unavailable due to injury. Nuno Gomes it´s also out of the match due to the red card received agains Rosemborg. On the other hand Inter have Vieri and Materazzi suspended while Coco, Almeyda, Gamarra and Emre are still injured.
PROBABLE FORMATIONS:
Benfica (4-3-3): Moreira; Miguel, Armando, Ricardo ROCHA, Luisão; Joao Pereira, Petit, Zahovic, Tiago; Simão Sabrosa, Sokota
Inter (3-4-3): Toldo; Cordoba, Adani, Cannavaro; Zanetti J., Zanetti C, Farinos, Okan; van der Meyde, Cruz, Martins
Prediction: With the two fallen giants facing each other in the Uefa Cup fourth round, nothing much should be expected from the first leg as both teams will give it all in the second. 0-0
Source: Soccerage
