Sampdoria vs Inter Milan preview - Pazzini to face former side

Posted Sunday, February 27, 2011 by PA

Inter Milan striker Giampaolo Pazzini has vowed to put emotions to one side when he returns to Genoa to face Sampdoria.

Pazzini is relishing lining up against his former club for the first time since leaving the Luigi Ferraris stadium in January.

"This is a special game for me," Pazzini said. "I spent two wonderful and unforgettable years in Genoa.

"I don't have a single bad memory of my experience at Samp.

"As soon as I walk out of the team bus to enter the stadium, I will feel great emotion but once the game starts it will be business as usual.

"However, if I score against them, I will not celebrate the goal.

"Perhaps later in my career I will return to Samp after I win every possible title with Inter first."

Pazzini is rested having not feature in Inter's 1-0 home defeat to Bayern Munich in their Champions League last-16 opener on Wednesday.

Leonardo's men must put that setback behind them as they look to put further pressure on the top two teams in the standings.

Serie A leaders AC Milan host second-place Napoli on Monday and if results go their way, Inter could reduce their current gap with their city rivals to just two points.

Leonardo's men beat Cagliari 1-0 last weekend to climb to third place, five points behind Milan and just two points adrift of Napoli.

Samp, meanwhile, have collected just one win in their last eight games.

Little has gone right for the Blucerchiati since Pazzini's departure.

Last weekend's goalless draw at Fiorentina which followed their 1-0 defeat to Genoa in the city derby dropped Domenico Di Carlo's men to 14th in the standings.

Lack of goalscoring has been Samp's biggest problem, with the Genoa outfit having failed to find the back of the net in seven of its last eight matches.

Samp striker Jonathan Biabiany, who is set to start against his former club, believes Samp is, however, improving.

"The team is growing," he said. "In Florence we already played a good game.

"It's going to be difficult against Inter because they are a very strong squad but we will try to make life difficult for them."

Inter will be without injured Andrea Ranocchia and Esteban Cambiasso, while defender Maicon serves a one-match ban.