WHISTLING to keep his spirits up, Massimo Moratti, the president of Inter, said that they would win the return match against United at San Siro 3-0 and thus glide into the semi-finals.
One shouldn't, of course, take much notice of what club presidents say; the Italian press take far too much. But if Ronaldo plays, and who could possibly predict when he will, all is not lost.
In the meantime, Inter still seemingly have their guns trained on Mircea Lucescu, their hapless Romanian stop-gap manager, above all, for his tactics and choices at Old Trafford. I wrote last week that it was widely expected that Youri Djorkaeff, an increasingly peripheral figure, would not be on show in Manchester. Instead, he was, and made minimal impact.
The feeling seems to be that if anyone should have been substituted, it was Djorkaeff, and that Nicola Ventola, who might well have been on from the start, should have been allowed to partner Ivan Zamorano, the big Chilean centre-forward, rather than replace him.
Ventola, after a long absence following a second severe knee operation, has suddenly come on song. As Italian journalists say of him, he is afraid of nobody and nothing, can on occasions be cattivo, best translated as malicious, and, like Zamorano himself, will never be intimidated.
Ventola, when he belatedly came on as substitute against Lazio in Rome last month, looked as if he still needed match practice, but this may have had something to do with his psychological state.
Like Taribo West, of whom more later, he quarrelled on the bench with Lucescu and was initially reluctant to come on as a substitute, though in the event, unlike West, he changed his mind and did go on. With his pace and thrust, there is no doubt that he unsettled United's defence in the closing stages and could do the same in Milan, whether or not Ronaldo plays. Twice, only the bold resilient goalkeeping of Peter Schmeichel frustrated him.
The Italian experts respected the Dutchman Jaap Stam, and his readiness to stand up to the physical challenge of Zamorano, a hard man himself, but they emphasised that the United defence lacks pace and is definitely breachable. Something that was shown, undeniably, at Old Trafford.
Ventola arrived from Bari in the close season for a massive fee, and was beginning to show his worth when he was injured again. His initial knee operation cost him most of last season with the Adriatic club.
Roberto Baggio? It was not one of his more coruscating nights, but given his penchant for scoring dramatic goals, not least at San Siro, where he breached Real Madrid's defence last year, he can hardly be omitted.
Which brings us to West. If Chelsea really do want him, as is rumoured in Milan, he must be in liontamer mode. The Nigerian defender is all of a piece; what you see, horned, exotic hairstyle and all, is what you get. Or what poor Andrei Kanchelskis got playing for Fiorentina last season when he suffered an appalling foul by West that put him out of the game for months.
How Inter's shaky defence could have done with West's pace, power and ability in the air at Manchester, and the Nigerian actually did get back the Monday before the game after playing for his country in Senegal. No more "dead" uncles, no more first and second marriages; there he was on the bench and there he remained.
Inter's marking for Dwight Yorke's two headed goals was abysmal. And where was their keeper, Gianluca Pagliuca? Answer: fixed to his line. "He always stays on his line," a Milanese journalist told me. "There hasn't been an Inter goalkeeper who comes off his line since Lido Vieri, in the 1960s. He once came off it to punch somebody!"
Ronaldo? He might just play a part or more in Tuesday's Italian Cup return game against Parma. On Saturday comes the derby at San Siro against Milan. Were he not to participate in either of these games, it is inconceivable that he would figure against Manchester United.
What of United's potential rivals? Bayern Munich should comfortably dispose of Kaiserslautern, their German compatriots, with their Brazilian attacker Elber in such hot form and the eternal maverick, Stefan Effenberg, now motoring in midfield.
Juventus, who once again scraped into the quarter-finals by the skin of their teeth, still lack Alessandro Del Piero, but might well survive in Piraeus against Olympiakos given their 2-1 lead, and seem to be settling down under Carlo Ancellotti, their new coach.
Real Madrid, who belatedly sacked Holland's Guus Hiddink and had to desperately call back John Toshack from Turkey after nearly a decade, could well go out in Kiev against a Dynamo team I'd still make favourites for the competition. It is Andrei Shevchenko's last hurrah before he joins Milan.
