EurosceneAs the day of final reckoning dawns on the Champions League group phase, it is a case of once more unto the "frozen" breach for at least two of European football's biggest names, Inter Milan and Lazio.
Both Italian powerhouse clubs head into the frozen East, desperate for a win that would see them snatch an improbable, last-minute qualification into the second round.
Inter travel to Kiev where 80,000 Dinamo fans and a temperature of -7° Centigrade await them this evening, while Lazio travel to Prague where Karel Poborsky, cold winds, frost and ice stand between them and a win over Sparta Prague tomorrow night.
Curiously, too, both travel buoyed by recent emphatic wins over the "Old Lady" herself, Juventus, still the benchmark of Italian excellence.
Inter's 3-1 rout of Juventus 10 days ago was all the more remarkable given it came just four days after they had all but played themselves out of the Champions League by losing 5-1 to Thierry Henry and friends, at the San Siro no less.
Similarly, Lazio's equally impressive 2-0 defeat of Juventus at the Olympic Stadium in Rome last Saturday night had been preceded by an abysmal 3-0 rout by newly-promoted Siena, not to mention a month of football distinguished by a 2-0 derby loss to Roma and a 4-0 Champions League humiliation at home to Chelsea.
To anyone unfamiliar with Italian football, it might seem strange to suggest that a win against Juventus can turn your season around. Yet, like Real Madrid in Spain, Manchester United in England and Bayern Munich in Germany, Juventus set the standards by which all their rivals judge themselves.
Such is the overall, morale- boosting effect of a victory over the Old Lady that while Inter and Lazio may well go out of the Champions League this week, they are unlikely to do so without giving their best shot at this final curtain call.
In theory, Inter's prospects are marginally better than Lazio's since they know that a win against Kiev puts them into the next round. Poor old Lazio are so far off the pace they not only need to beat Sparta Prague but also hope that Besiktas either draw or lose "at home" to Chelsea in the neutral venue of Gelsenkirchen, Germany.
The new-look, Alberto Zaccheroni-coached Inter may be helped by the injury enforced absence of Kiev's experienced midfielder Andri Husin, as well as that of striker Roberto Nanni.
Equally important could be an impressive Inter front line of Julio Cruz, Obafemi Martins and Christian Vieri, not to mention the return of the Italian captain, Fabio Cannavaro, in defence.
Speaking at Inter's La Pinetina training ground yesterday, Cannavaro sounded an optimistic note ahead of the match, saying: "Yeah, sure it's true that it will be very cold in Kiev, but it's not a new experience for me.When you're on the pitch, you soon forget the cold. The main thing is to keep moving.
"Obviously, I would have liked us to travel to Kiev in a better position in the table, but nothing is lost yet and nothing is going to frighten us. That 5-1 Arsenal result was false. At no stage did I have the sensation that they were that much better than us, we just left them too much space when we had to chase the match."
Lazio's prospects tonight have hardly been helped by injuries to Argentine winger Claudio Lopez, striker Roberto Muzzi and midfielder Giuliano Giannichedda, injuries picked up last Saturday night against Juventus. Furthermore, football's "Mr Nasty", Sinisa Mihajlovic, is suspended following his infamous spitting incident with Chelsea's Adrian Mutu. This latter suspension, however, could prove itself a mixed blessing for Lazio, given Mihajlovic's oft-times suspect temperament and his end-of-career lack of pace.
Certainly coach Roberto Mancini was sounding upbeat at Rome's Fiumicino airport yesterday as he prepared to fly to Prague, saying: "Unfortunately, our qualification no longer depends entirely on us, but I sense that if we win then we'll get through and that has to be our only thought."
Whoever said football was not a mind game?
