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Sports

Inter, Roma tangle with European hopes on the line

By Sports Network
Published | Updated

Milan, Italy (SportsNetwork.com) - Inter Milan and Roma may be separated by 16 points in the Serie A table, but both sides bring European ambitions into Saturday's clash at the San Siro.

Inter is coming off a 0-0 draw against AC Milan in the Milan derby last weekend, which left the club in 10th place in the league.

However, Roberto Mancini's men are still just eight points back of fifth-place Sampdoria, which occupies the final Europa League berth.

A strong finish to the season for the Nerazzurri could see the club challenge to get into Europe despite what has been a very disappointing campaign thus far.

Roma, meanwhile, is aiming to keep hold of a top-three spot to secure a place in the Champions League.

The club was seemingly headed for a battle with Juventus at the top of the table, but Rudi Garcia's side has hit a slide that has not only dropped them 15 points back of Juve, but also behind rivals Lazio on goal difference.

Finishing behind Lazio would be a blow to Roma, but it would be even worse if the club managed to fall out of the top three.

Back-to-back draws with Torino and Atalanta have not only dropped Roma to third, but also allowed fourth-place Napoli to close to within five points.

Lazio saw its eight-match winning streak halted last weekend in a 2-0 defeat to Juventus, and the club will try to get back on track at home against bottom-half side Chievo.

Napoli, meanwhile, hosts fifth-place Sampdoria in a match filled with European implications.

Juventus will be full of confidence ahead of its Turin derby showdown against Torino on Sunday as Juve not only owns a 15-point lead at the top of the league, but also reached the semifinals of the Champions League for the first time since the 2002-03 season by holding off Monaco in the quarterfinals in midweek.

AC Milan is ninth and still harbors Europa League ambitions of its own ahead of a trip to Udinese on Saturday, Atalanta and Empoli square off in a meeting of two of the bottom five teams in the league, Cesena sits seven points from safety and travels to Genoa, Sassuolo hits the road to face Hellas Verona, Parma hosts Palermo and Fiorentina entertains Cagliari after the Viola secured a spot in the semifinals of the Europa League on Thursday.