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Rivals Mourinho and Ranieri to meet in Inter-Juventus matchup

Rival coaches Jose Mourinho and Claudio Ranieri will meet for the first time when Serie A leader Inter Milan hosts resurgent Juventus this weekend.

Besides the personal battle - Mourinho succeeded Ranieri at Chelsea and the pair have been trading verbal jabs since the beginning of this season - the match also has important implications for the standings.

Inter leads the league with 27 points, followed by AC Milan with 26 and Juventus with 24.

"The title is on the line," Juventus president Giovanni Cobolli Gigli said, preferring to avoid talk of revenge after the Italian match-fixing scandal reshaped the Serie A pecking order, with Inter replacing Juventus as the team to beat.

"Juventus won't be seeking any sporting vendettas at the San Siro. We're simply going to try to win. You've got to look forward and leave the past behind your shoulders," Cobolli Gigli added.

Still, Mourinho and Ranieri seemingly can't stop talking about each other and how their paths have crossed in recent years.

"He's won and I haven't. But I've been in football for a long time and I've always moved up, which means I've done a good job even without winning," Ranieri said in Thursday's Gazzetta dello Sport, referring to the fact that he has never guided a club to a league or international title.

Mourinho directed FC Porto to the Champions League title in 2004 and won consecutive Premier League titles with Chelsea in 2005 and '06.

Mourinho took note of Ranieri's record when he said before the season that the Italian arrived at the big-time "without having won anything," to which Ranieri replied sarcastically about how "elegant" his colleague is.

Ranieri also criticized Mourinho earlier this season for having his assistant coach conduct post-match interviews.

"He's a Portuguese coach, which isn't too different from an Italian coach. I'm an Italian who has been around the world and opened up to other types of football," said Ranieri, who has also coached Valencia and Atletico Madrid in Spain.

Ranieri said he and Mourinho differ "on everything," although he appreciates the respect players show for his colleague, "which shows they have a great relationship with him."

The top players on both sides - Zlatan Ibrahimovic for Inter and Alessandro Del Piero for Juventus - were both spared from playing in midweek international friendlies, and should be fresh for Saturday.

Ibrahimovic scored both goals in Inter's 2-0 win over Palermo last weekend and Del Piero accounted for three of the four goals Juventus scored in beating Real Madrid home and away in the Champions League.

Juventus has won five straight games in Serie A and seven overall. Inter has struggled against lesser opponents recently but performed well against Palermo.

"Ibrahimovic has to play like he did against Palermo," Inter president Massimo Moratti said.

With Ivan Cordoba suspended, Marco Materazzi or Nicolas Burdisso will likely pair with Walter Samuel in central defence for Inter.

Juventus goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon is still out, and Cristiano Zanetti has also still not returned. Another Juve midfielder, Christian Poulsen, re-aggravated a muscle problem in training this week.

Milan visits Torino on Sunday and key midfielder Andrea Pirlo could return from a lengthy injury layoff.

Milan is hoping that the Inter-Juve outcome, combined with a victory of its own, leaves the Rossoneri at the top of the table.

Napoli, which is fourth with 23 points, hosts Cagliari.

Also Saturday, Fiorentina plays Udinese.

On Sunday, it's Bologna versus Palermo, Chievo Verona versus Siena, Lazio versus Genoa, Lecce versus AS Roma, Reggina versus Atalanta, and Sampdoria versus Catania. Canadian Press


Shevchenko, Kaladze to be interrogated on Yushchenko’s poisoning

Ex-player of the Ukrainian national football team Andriy Gusin has witnessed on the case of poisoning presidential contender Victor Yushchenko. Besides, investigators issued same summons for another two famous football players – Andriy Shevchenko and Kakha Kaladze, Kommersant daily reports.

“Yes, it really took place”, Andriy Gusin confirmed to the daily that he was interrogated on the case. However, he refused to go into any other detail having noted that he undertook not to disclose the secret of investigation. “Of course, it’s an absurd, but what can I do? They told me to come – and I came… Seems to me they’ve moving towards a wrong direction”, Gusin said.

According to the information of the daily, the three football players are close friends with Tamaz Tsintsabadze, an owner of a Kyiv premium-class automobile sales center and a participant of the notorious dinner at the cottage of SBU ex-deputy head Volodymyr Satsiuk on September 5, 2004, when, by the main version of the investigation, Victor Yushchenko was poisoned with dioxin. UNIAN


Bayern agree Donovan loan

LA Galaxy star Donovan has landed the move to Germany in the next transfer window as he looks to maintain his fitness during the Major League Soccer off-season.

The deal will commence on 1st January and run through until at least the middle of March, with Bayern coach Jurgen Klinsmann keen to retain his services until the end of the campaign.

"The goal will be to see if we can get him long-term, at least until the end of the season," Klinsmann told the club's official website.

Donovan, 26, follows the likes of team-mate David Beckham, who will join up with AC Milan in January, in seeking a move rather than taking a break from the game. SkySports