The China Mail - Inter slump puts season at risk ahead of daunting Barca trip

Wednesday's daunting clash at Barcelona could hardly have come at a worst time for Inter who, since reaching the last four, have lost three games on the bounce without scoring a goal.

Those three defeats handed Napoli a three-point lead at the top of Serie A with four matches remaining and left Inter out of the Italian Cup after a dismal 3-0 derby defeat at the hands of AC Milan last week.

Simone Inzaghi's team look tired and bereft of ideas up front. Sunday's 1-0 home loss to Roma was played in front of a soporific San Siro crowd which couldn't have been more different to the raucous atmosphere which accompanied their thrilling passage past Bayern Munich a fortnight ago.

"We deserved more and created situations from which we failed to get anything, largely because we lacked sharpness," said Inzaghi on Sunday.

"Maybe a positive result would have given us more energy, but we need to find that from within ourselves. We've got to recharge our batteries, both mentally and physically."

The last time Inter lost three in a row without scoring was in 2012 during Claudio Ranieri's ill-fated spell on the Nerazzurri bench.

Inter last lost to Roma in October 2022. Three days after that defeat Inter beat Barcelona 1-0 on their way to that season's final in Istanbul, which they narrowly lost to Manchester City.

Barca were Inter's semi-final opponents 15 years ago when, under Jose Mourinho, the eventual treble winners nearly threw away the Serie A title to Roma, managed by Ranieri, before triumphing on the final day of the season.

- 'Not scared' -

Inter will also have one day less rest after having their match with Roma moved back to Sunday so that it didn't clash with Pope Francis' funeral, giving France defender Benjamin Pavard less time to recover from an ankle sprain picked up at the weekend.

Barca are on a high after beating Real Madrid to win the Cope del Rey on Saturday as their old enemies had a petulant meltdown in a face of a third straight Clasico defeat.

"We're not scared, the best thing is to be in April and still have something to play for," said wing-back Carlos Augusto on Sunday.

"We have a chance to achieve something extraordinary and we're not afraid. This team has already won a lot and is always focused."

Inzaghi will be hoping striker Marcus Thuram will be available as his replacements have done nothing alongside Lautaro Martinez who has looked exhausted, and frustrated.

Captain Martinez has been key to Inter's run to the semi-finals with goals which first sealed their place in the top eight of the league phase and then dragged his team to the last four.

The 27-year-old has scored seven times in five Champions League matches since the turn of the year, half of his total goal tally for that period.

He netted home and away against Bayern and was in great form during his match-winning display against the Bundesliga champions-in-waiting two weeks ago, when Inter looked to be on top of the world.

Now Inter are scrambling to salvage something from what had looked like a dream season but is rapidly turning into a nightmare.

A.Kwok--ThChM