Robbie Keane may well make his competitive debut for his new club, Inter Milan, in tonight's Champions League preliminary round tie away to Swedish side Helsingborg.
Keane, who joined Inter 10 days ago on an £16 million transfer fee from Premiership side Coventry, made his club debut in a triangular friendly with Juventus and Bari last week. Tonight, however, could see him make his first appearance in a match that counts.
With Brazilian Ronaldo, Italian Christian Vieri and Uruguyan Alvaro Recoba all ruled out by injury and with both Turkish striker Hakan Sukur and Chilean Ivan Zamorano carrying knocks from last week's friendly against Juventus and Bari, Keane looks like the only striker in the Inter camp currently with a clean bill of health. Accordingly, his chances of starting tonight's tie, perhaps alongside Zamorano, look good.
Speaking just before last night's final training session at the Olympia Stadium in Helsingborg, Inter coach Marcello Lippi was typically cautious about his intended line-up. Lippi did, however, boost Keane's chances when saying that he would not start the match with a front pairing of Zamorano and Sukur, explaining:
"Both of them (Sukur and Zamorano) are carrying knocks and I can't take the risk of finding myself having to substitute both of them after just 10 minutes of the game."
Tonight's Inter will clearly be some way short of full strength since apart from Ronaldo, Vieri and Recoba, newly signed Spanish midfielder Francisco Farinos and Argentine Javier Zanetti are also ruled out by injury. That notwithstanding, Inter will still field a very strong side featuring French World Cup and Euro 2000 winner Laurent Blanc and Colombian Ivan Cordoba in defence, Yugoslav Vladimir Jugovic, Frenchman Benoit Cauet and Italian Andrea Pirlo in midfield and Italian international Luigi Di Biagio and Dutchman Clarence Seedorf on the bench:
"I'm not thinking about the players we don't have for this game, rather I'm looking at those we do have, the ones who can give 100 per cent. . ." said Lippi.
On paper, Inter should be a great deal stronger than Helsingborg but the Swedes will clearly have a fitness advantage as this game comes in their mid-season. Lippi is only too aware of the potential difficulties posed by such an early season tie, commenting:
"I always treat opponents with plenty of respect. There are no such things as easy matches, especially if you do not approach them in the right way. . . This tie will tell us if we can make up in skill for what we lack in fitness, as compared to the Swedes who already have 15 first division games behind them this season."
Lippi's opposite number, Swedish coach Nanne Bergstrand, seemed happy yesterday to see his side cast in the role of outsider, saying:
"It would have better for us to have come up against a less strong club but we've got to go out and play without worries, just the same...Inter are the clear favourites."
Inter, winners of the Champions Cup in 1964 and 1965, qualified for this season's Champions League by beating Parma in an end of season play-off last May.
Inter and Parma had finished joint fourth in Serie A behind champions Lazio, second-placed Juventus and third-placed AC Milan, all of whom are also Champions League contenders this season. Inter's last appearance in the Champions League came two seasons ago when they were eliminated by eventual winners, Manchester United, at the quarterfinal stage.
Brian Laudrup believes his former club Rangers are a stronger force in Europe than when he was a player at Ibrox - but must avoid treating Herfolge lightly tonight.
Rangers face last season's Danish League winners for a place in the European Champions League as overwhelming favourites given Herfolge's lowly status.
