Midfielder Esteban Cambiasso believes Inter Milan could miss injury victim Thiago Motta more than suspended coach Jose Mourinho against Napoli tomorrow.
The Portuguese manager will serve a one-game ban at the San Siro following his dismissal during the win over Cagliari, a decision which has caused plenty of the pre-match focus to be diverted to the controversial coach.
But Cambiasso insists most of Mourinho's influence occurs in the build up to a game and that the on-field presence of Motta is a more serious setback.
Motta is out for around a month after rupturing a muscle in his right thigh.
"I don't want to talk about Mourinho's ban because no-one has any intention of complaining," said the Argentina midfielder.
"The boss has his personality and this is why he is loved and hated by many. His ban obviously makes news because he's a winning coach who has no problems saying what he thinks, but in these last few days a lot less has been said about Thiago Motta's injury than Mourinho's suspension.
"The boss will be able to do his work with us, whereas Thiago Motta won't be able to give his contribution to the team for a while."
Cambiasso also raised the possibility of player fatigue in the Inter ranks, with the match coming either side of the Cagliari workout and this weekend's visit to Sampdoria.
"It is a tour de force because we are playing every three days with all the consequences in terms of physical and psychological tiredness," said Cambiasso.
"Last Sunday's match was probably the most difficult because we faced Cagliari after the very tiring match against Barcelona.
"We earned three very important points at the Sant'Elia but it's a completely different story now. Napoli are stronger than their current position in the table suggests and they will want to play a great game against Inter after their draw against Udinese. They will be motivated."
Napoli, meanwhile, are continuing to look for the right formula.
Edy Reja was sacked as coach after a dismal run of form last season and the appointment of former Italy coach Roberton Donadoni as his replacement has yet to have the desired effect.
After an unfortunate reverse against Palermo and an expected win over Livorno, their season has already taken a turn for the worse with a 4-1 humbling by Genoa and a particularly lacklustre stalemate against Udinese.
Donadoni will be hoping his forward pairing of Fabio Quagliarella and Ezequiel Lavezzi find their stride sooner rather than later to get the goals flowing, but Napoli will have to reverse recent form at the San Siro for that to come about.[sportinglife.com]
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