Ronaldo unwittingly comes to Cuper's aid

EUROSCENE: There is nothing quite like Ronaldo to bring people together. Just as Inter Milan's season arrives at a definitive no-way-back point with tomorrow night's Champions League tie away to German side Bayer Leverkusen, up pops the Brazilian ace and former Inter player to revive flagging morale.

Speaking last week, World Player of the Year Ronaldo had suggested that he would be quite happy to return to Inter, where he played (sometimes) for five seasons between 1997 and 2002. In his own sweet little way, though, the Brazilian ace laid down conditions for his return. If I come back, he said, current coach, Argentine Hector Cuper, must go.

No sooner read, than the Inter fans had a banner ready for Ronaldo during Sunday's 4-0 home win against bottom of table Como. The banner read simply: "Ronaldo Will Come Back If Cuper Leaves? Cuper For Life".

For Cuper, the banner was a welcome blast of fan support. Notwithstanding the fact that Sunday's win keeps Inter bang in there in the Serie A title race, just three points behind leaders Juventus, Inter's recent form has been in and out. Recent 3-0 defeats by Juventus (in Serie A) and Barcelona (in the Champions League), not to mention a poor performance in a fortuitous 2-2 draw with Newcastle last week, have all underlined Inter's ongoing organic frailty.

Put simply, even though this is a side packed with outstanding individual talents, the sum of its parts falls way short of its potential. Worse still, as Inter prepare for tomorrow night's game against Leverkusen, they find themselves with an absentee list that looks like a Who's Who of modern strikers.

Argentine Gabriel Batistuta, Uruguayan Alvaro Recoba, Christian Vieri, Sierra Leone striker Mohammed Kallon and reserve Nicola Ventola are all ruled out, either through injury, suspension or being cup-tied. Such is the crisis that Inter will probably start the game with 18-year-old Nigerian youth team player, Obafemi Martins, leading the attack.

Such, too, is the crisis that Inter may well start with half-fit Argentine ace Hernan Crespo on the bench, still recovering from a serious muscle injury and without a full game since December but ready to come on in a second half emergency.

Were Inter playing away to any side other than Leverkusen, then their task might seem a mission impossible. Yet, this Leverkusen is light years removed from the team which only months ago deservedly fought its way through to the Champions League final, subsequently lost to Real Madrid.

With players like defender Jens Nowotny injured and with stars such as German Michael Ballack and Brazilian Ze Roberto having moved on, Leverkusen have gone down and down. Not only are they long since eliminated from the Champions League but also, following a 1-1 home draw with Wolfsburg on Saturday, they now lie 15th in the Bundesliga, just two points away from the relegation zone.

On the eve of last week's 2-0 defeat by Barcelona, coach Thomas Hoerster (he took over from Klaus Toppmoeller in January) suggested that he needed a Champions League tie like a hole in the head.

This week, Bayer have wisely banned Hoerster from talking. His captain, Carsten Ramelow has caught the pre-match mood nicely, however, by promising to stay at Leverkusen, even if they go down to Division Two next season. Real eve of Champions League talk, indeed.

In short, it takes no genius to work out that Leverkusen's current major priorities do not include beating Inter. All of which is bad news for Newcastle who go into their home tie against Barcelona, one point behind Inter.

A win for Inter will get them into the quarter-finals. Such a win may even help coach Cuper repay the surprising vote of confidence shown him by the fans last Sunday. Cuper himself has no doubts: "We may be short of players in attack but I don't like making excuses. I'm sure we'll qualify".

If Inter do get through, perhaps Cuper should send a "thank you" note to Ronaldo, for finally getting the truculent Inter fans on his side.