Ranieri sees Milito, Pazzini key in Moscow

26 September 2011 01:35

New Inter Milan coach Claudio Ranieri hopes Giampaolo Pazzini and Diego Milito can inspire a Champions League win against CSKA Moscow on Tuesday after kick-starting the Italians' season at the weekend.

Ranieri took over the 2010 European champions last week after Gian Piero Gasperini was sacked following a run of two defeats and a draw in their opening three Serie A games.

The change worked wonders with a morale-boosting 3-1 win at Bologna where Milito and Pazzini were both on the scoresheet.

Inter need another win on Tuesday having suffered a shock 1-0 home defeat in their Champions League opener at the hands of Turkish side Trabzonspor.

With midfielders Wesley Sneijder and Joel Obi both sidelined with injuries, the 59-year-old Ranieri needs Milito and Pazzini to be on their best form in Moscow.

"They can play together," the coach said. "They just need to adjust certain movements.

"They're two born goalscorers. I don't know when we'll see them playing together again but I'm happy for them."

Meanwhile, CSKA warmed up for the match with a 3-1 win over Volga Nizhny Novgorod in the Russian Premiership.

The Red Army side's goals came from their Ivory Coast marksman Seydou Doumbia, who netted his 15th of the season to remain in the joint-lead in the national goal-scoring charts.

CSKA manager Leonid Slutsky is missing a number of crucial players for Tuesday's match, including Japanese midfielder Keisuke Honda, Chilean winger Mark Gonzalez, defender Georgy Shchennikov and Czech forward Tomas Necid.

First-choice 'keeper Igor Akinfeyev is also out for at least six months with a serious knee injury.

Slutsky said he was happy with the result of the match but expressed his concern about his team's performance ahead of Inter's visit.

"It was very important to win ahead of a tough match with Inter," he said. "We achieved the required result though we failed to avoid difficulties in the match, which should be an easy test for us.

"We experienced problems creating chances and it bothers me as against Inter every single moment will be precious."

CSKA opened their Champions League campaign with a come-from-behind 2-2 draw at Lille in France with Doumbia scoring both goals.

Source: AFP