Sizing-up the Nerazzurri

It could have been much worse. We could have drawn Real Madrid or even A.C. Milan. It's not that I don't think we could beat those sides, it just would have been a more difficult task. Real is the deepest squad on the planet and from the looks of things, Milan doesn't have much else to play for, being essentially out of the Scudetto race already.

I personally think Inter is the most overrated club in Europe right now. Serie A is relatively weak this season, mostly due to the fall of Milan. When Udinese is the fourth place side, 16 games into the season while scoring only 20 goals, your league is fragile.

What worries me most is the second/away leg. It's set for March 11th, three days after Newcastle come to Anfield. I don't know why they didn't just schedule it for the 12th. Inter has a match two days prior, but that will probably be rescheduled now, though I doubt we'll get such accommodations.

I also can't wait to hear the rubbish that the Italian press will spew about our fans coming to Milan. I'm sure it will be flattering. The Italians have some of the most violent fans in the world, the English pale in comparison, but the see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil policy is in full effect. Riots, stabbings, the killing of policeman, our fans are the ones that should be worried, granted most of it occurs in the Rome area and down south.

As for the actual matches, I see rather drab affairs. I expect them to slow things down as much as possible in both ties, especially at Anfield. Cruz and Zlatan don't worry me much, so we shouldn't have much trouble preventing them from scoring. The problem is, it's not going to be easy for us to net either. Certainly the magic of Torres and Gerrard would come in handy, but I wouldn't be surprised to see 0-0 results at the end of both matches, going to penalty kicks. Get studying, Pepe.

One more thing, I would love to see Mascherano take out Materazzi, especially if he starts with his cheating tactics. He's just horrible for the sport in general. Cheers.