Sport-Motors

(ANSA) - Rome, November 5 - Inter Milan coach Jose' Mourinho wants a full house for Sunday night's Serie A clash against Serie A strugglers Roma.

''The team deserve it after what they did against Dynamo Kiev,'' he said after a 2-1 comeback win that vaulted the Nerazzurri to the top of their Champions League qualifying group.

''This win could mark a change in the way some parts of the media see us,'' added the Portuguese coach.

Inter will be aiming to protect a seven-point lead over Juventus and Sampdoria at the San Siro.

(ANSA) - Milan, November 5 - Italy coach Nick Mallett said Thursday he was thrilled Italy's November 14 test match against New Zealand at San Siro is a sell-out.

''It's incredible,'' former South Africa coach Mallett told a press conference.

''I've never seen so many people at a test match, not even in South Africa''.

''The players are pumped up. We can play a great game and give a huge boost to the rugby movement in Italy''.

(ANSA) - Milan, November 5 - Inter Milan Chairman Massimo Moratti on Thursday hailed Inter's last-gasp 2-1 Champions League win at Dynamo Kiev.

Moratti said coach Jose' Mourino had been ''very good'' in making key changes that produced the two late goals which raised Inter from bottom to top of its qualifying group.

The team, he added, ''showed character'' in Kiev Wednesday night in overturning a 1-0 deficit in the 85th and 89th minutes with goals from Diego Milito and Wesley Sneijder.

(ANSA) - Rome, November 4 - Cross-country skier Giorgio Di Centa will carry the flag for Italy at the opening ceremony of the Vancouver Winter Olympics in February, the Italian Olympic Committee announced Tuesday.

Di Centa, 37, brother of retired cross-country star Manuela Di Centa, won two gold medals at the last Winter Games, in Turin in 2006.

Figure skater Carolina Kostner was flag-bearer then.

The 21st Winter Olympics will be held February 12-28 in Vancouver with some events held in the resort town of Whistler nearby.

(ANSA) - Rome, November 3 - Silvio Berlusconi is so in love with AC Milan that no price would tempt him to sell it, the Italian premier says in an upcoming book.

''For someone in love, no figure is worth the sacrifice,'' Berlusconi tells the author, journalist Bruno Vespa, in the soon-to-be-released Donne di Cuori (Women of Hearts).

''The good of the beloved (must) prevail,'' he says.

Berlusconi adds that he has never discussed selling the club with his friend Roman Abramovich.

''I really think Chelsea is more than enough for him,'' he says.

(ANSA) - Milan, November 2 - Ronaldinho is looking forward to another great Champions League night against Real Madrid after Milan's thrilling 3-2 win at the Bernabeu two weeks ago.

''I'm expecting a great night from all the players (at the San Siro Tuesday),'' said the 29-year-old former European Footballer of the Year.

Another win would virtually clinch qualification to the next round for the Rossoneri, who have clicked into gear after a slow start to the season and are now up to 4th in Serie A.

(ANSA) - Rome, November 2 - A state of emergency for the H1N1 flu virus in the Ukraine will not interfere with Wednesday's Champions League match between Inter Milan and Dynamo Kiev, a spokesperson from the Ukrainian team said Monday.

Last week, UEFA said the Ukrainian government, which has banned public gatherings and closed schools to contain the pandemic, might cancel the match.

(ANSA) - Rome, November 2 - Inter Milan coach Jose' Mourinho was cautious Monday despite his seven-point lead at the top of Serie A.

''OK, seven points are a big advantage but talking about escaping the rest just doesn't make sense right now,'' he said.

Goals from Milito and Maicon at Livorno put the Nerazzurri seven clear of Juventus, 3-2 home losers to Napoli, and Sampdoria, who could only manage a goalless home draw against Bari.

(ANSA) - Geneva, October 30 - A UEFA spokesperson warned Friday that the Ukrainian government could call off the November 4 Champions League match between Inter Milan and Dinamo Kiev over fears of the H1N1 flu virus.

According to Robert Faulkner, ''as long as teams have enough players in the reserve squads to put eleven of them on the field, Champions League games will go ahead''.

(ANSA) - Turin, October 30 - Juventus midfielder Mohamed 'Momo' Sissoko will be out for ''20-25'' days with a thigh strain, club doctors said Friday.

The 24-year-old Mali international picked up the injury during Juve's 5-1 defeat of Sampdoria in Turin Wednesday night.

(ANSA) - London, October 30 - Juventus and Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon is Italy's only representative in FIFA's list of 23 candidates for the 2009 World Player of the Year award, world soccer's ruling body said Friday.

No Italians at all made France Football's recent list of 30 candidates for the still more prestigious European Footballer of the Year prize - down from two, Buffon and Luca Toni, in 2008.

(ANSA) - Rome, October 30 - Italian soccer doesn't need vaccinations against the HINI flu, Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) chief Gianni Petrucci said Friday.

''There is no danger for soccer or any other sport,'' Petrucci said after the news that the 350-strong Winter Olympics teams would be vaccinated ahead of Vancouver 2010.

''There's no need to spark pointless alarmism,'' he said.

(ANSA) - Rome, October 30 - The Italian team for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver will be vaccinated for the H1N1 flu, Junior Health Minister Ferruccio Fazio said Friday.

''Naturally, we don't want Italy's representatives to be decimated and so we've decided to vaccinate them all,'' he said.

The Italian Olympic Committee asked for the vaccinations amid concern sports events might be more vulnerable to the new flu, which is also called Influenza A or swine flu.

(Corrects score from 4-3 to 5-3.) (ANSA) - Milan, October 30 - Mario Balotelli was fantastic in Inter Milan's 5-3 win over Palermo Thursday night that put them back on top of Serie A, coach Jose' Mourinho said.

''Mario had a fantastic game,'' said the Portuguese coach, who earlier in the week had criticised 'SuperMario' for his reported interest in fast cars.

Balotelli scored twice to help put Inter four points clear of Juventus and five ahead of Sampdoria.

(ANSA) - Milan, October 30 - Mario Balotelli was fantastic in Inter Milan's 4-3 win over Palermo Thursday night that put them back on top of Serie A, coach Jose' Mourinho said.

''Mario had a fantastic game,'' said the Portuguese coach, who earlier in the week had criticised 'SuperMario' for his reported interest in fast cars.

Balotelli scored twice to help put Inter four points clear of Juventus and five ahead of Sampdoria.