• Champions League

Mourinho plays down Inter advantage

Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola are widely considered to be two of the best managers in Europe © Getty Images

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Inter Milan coach Jose Mourinho does not believe his side will gain any advantage from Barcelona's disrupted build-up to Tuesday night's Champions League semi-final first leg at the San Siro.

Barca's high-profile stars were forced to undertake a 600-mile coach trip to Milan due to the air travel restrictions in force across Europe caused by the ash cloud from the Icelandic volcano.

The reigning European champions began their journey Sunday afternoon and did not arrive in northern Italy until earlier on Monday following an overnight stopover in the French resort of Cannes.

But Mourinho is confident Barca will be unaffected by the alterations to their travel plans.

"I don't think it will matter,'' said the former Chelsea boss. "It is their body, their mind that has to respond. If it happened to me, I would try to transform a problem into motivation, something to enjoy, to have the squad together due to a difficulty. It doesn't seem like a drama to me.''

Inter will take heart from a gruelling travel itinerary for Pep Guardiola's side, who will be without key midfielder Andres Iniesta with a thigh injury. But for Guardiola, even a 14-hour coach journey to reach the San Siro due to the flight restrictions in force across much of Europe has not dampened his spirits.

"Let me just enjoy this feeling once again of being in the semi-final for the third time in a row,'' he said. "This is a great success for us and we should enjoy it. We want to enjoy the semi-final and hope to arrive in the final.''

Barcelona striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic returns to his old stomping ground and he is 5/1 to score first with Stan James against the club he scored 126 goals for in three seasons.

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