Pre-Match Buzz: Back & Forth

Our collossal clash with Inter Milan is coming up, and y'all know what that means: everyone remotely involved is throwing words and left and right in the buildup to this match...

- First, we take a trip down to Inter headquarters where the man in charge, Jose Mourinho, claims he has no hard feelings towards Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Frankly, we would be surprised if he did have any - it's not like Zla forced his exit from the club or went against his coach's wishes; as far as we know, Jose was all for the move. Hell, now he's claiming that Eto'o is the best striker around:

"Eto'o is the best striker that I have worked with."

"He is the best striker in the world. My players are always the best."

Can you feel the modesty? Drogba must be crying somewhere right now. The Special One went one to welcome Zlatan's return with these warm words:

"I don't forget a player like him, I carry him in my heart. So, I will hug him before the game but during the entire 90 minutes I don't even want to know what his name is."

- How does Zlatan respond to that? After having raved last week about how much better Barca are than Inter, he returns now to claim he isn't afraid of returning to the San Siro.

“I’m not interested in how the crowd reacts, it is not important.”

“I have excellent memories of Milan, but I am happy to be back at San Siro wearing a different shirt."

“I had a good relationship with my teammates and I’ll greet them with pleasure. I have nothing against them."

- But do they have anything against him? Inter Milan's Sulley Muntari lashes back out at Zlatan:

"Zlatan said Barcelona are stronger because he plays there? I say Inter are the stronger squad because I am here."

"I was one of those players who used to run for him, yet he thinks he won here on his own."

- While we await Zla's smart-alec response to that, let's stop in a moment on ex-Barca boy, Samuel Eto'o. He is as eager to face his old team as Zlatan:

"The game against Barcelona motivates me, obviously."

"Up until now I had not thought about playing them, but now I am and that is what I am focussing on."

"I really want to play in the game, but I do not think it will be the most important game of the season because I want to play in many important games, not just this one."

- Meanwhile, Inter's Thiago Motta, also formerly of Barca (although he had better hair when he was here), has faith that his current team can beat his old one:

"We will take on the European champions, but we will keep great faith in our qualities."

"The fact that Barcelona will not come to Milan only to defend can be an advantage for us.”

- As for the players on Barca, Xavi has his own bizarre approach to the match as always:

"The difference between Inter and Barcelona is that we believe in the squad. Yes, we save money, and it means the players have more motivation."

"Eto'o made history with Barcelona, but you cannot really compare him to Ibrahimovic. The Sweden striker is still adapting."

- And Xavi is not the only one trying to avoid Eto'o-Ibra comparisons, as Yaya Toure says simply:

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"They are two very different players with great quality."

- Up until the last minute before the match, we can expect much more of this sort of thing ping-ponging from both sides... probably with Jose claiming full responsibility for Inter's Scudetto last year, insisting that Julio Cesar is far superior to Valdes, and assuring his players that he has Ibrahimovic all figured out; Pep possibly speaking up, only to say that Inter are a glorious team and Barca must be on their guard, while doing his utmost to avoid the subject of Eto'o; meanwhile Pique will announce that he turned down a secret offer from Mourinho to join Inter last winter, Puyol will swear on his Captain's badge to do his utmost to ensure victory for Barca, and Laporta will babble to the media that we're going to sign half the Inter squad, possibly Eto'o included.