Ah yes, the good ol' Gemellaggi game.  2 teams when they play against each other have the rest of the Serie A world incensed with hatred towards us.  None more existent than last seasons roll-over 2-0 in the same fixture.  No crowd trouble here just a top 6 battle between two teams Inter (5th-23points) & Lazio (2nd 27 points) with similar fan ideologies and a history of friendship.

In my humble of opinions, Inter albeit an Inter side not the same from last season (injuries, coaching, lack of motivation etc.) is STILL the team to beat in Serie A.  Obviously they've got a make-over from the disciplined Mourinho team.  Nevertheless, when on their game like this past Sunday in front of goal they can make you pay.  No Eto'o no Samuel...For these guys it's still no problem.  Lazio in front of goal however have been dismal, and the results have shown (5 games, 5points).   

Cercheremo il colpaccio venerdì, contro l'Inter». Edy Reja "We will try to bang one out Friday against Inter"...ha ha (Me too Edy...me too!)

This is an important fixture to prove that we belong among the contenders for a C.L spot and perhaps a signal of intent that we will fight for top spot as well.  To be honest I really wanted Sunday's fixture to stamp our intent for first because we were somehow excluded by Massimo Allegri's proposal of which teams were a threat to A.C's title hopes.  (Failed to mention SS. Lazio among Inter, Juventus, & Roma) 

But that’s just fine with us as well as midfielder Cristian Brocchi who's spoken of his hatred today against FC Inter: 
"...but against Inter Brocchi and friends ponder the prestige of victory, not only to erase the bad memories of last season, when Inter were imposed without any effort (2-0) against a team concerned only with not disappoint the fans, who did not want to see Roma win the title. But for some reason have more than their Cristian Brocchi team-mates is that in Milan, with Inter shirt (2000-2001), passed the worst moment of his long playing career. "It was the worst year of my career - the midfielder said in an interview with the journal of the municipality of Rome 'SPQR Sport' - After the preparation, I was forced to operate at two disc hernia ions and, before entering operating room, I was told that I could not play more football. From there was born to my hatred against Inter: I just left at a sensitive time, not to protect me." (Taken from Lazialita-Nov.29-2010)

Brocchi along with the rest of the crew hope to signal their intent come Friday evening @ The Olimpico.  For me it will be an extra satisfaction should the 3 points come, much to the she grin of some closet Riomanestee in the media
  Avanti Ragazzi 

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGndkMH3Rhk" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGndkMH3Rhk</a>

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjbL_oxd1eY" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjbL_oxd1eY</a>

A History of Gemilaggi
Lazio ultras' strongest friendship is certainly with the ultras of Internazionale. This friendship was born around the mid-1980s and has grown stronger in recent years with the UEFA Cup 1997-98 final in Paris and the infamous Serie A 2001-02 season decider on 5 May 2002 at the Stadio Olimpico, when many fans of Lazio supported Inter, their opposition, hoping they would claim the Scudetto instead of hated rival Juventus. The match ended 4-2 to Lazio, a result which saw Inter lose their title on the last day and many Lazio ultras called for manager Alberto Zaccheroni to be sacked.

I agree, this is certainly a huge match for us and whether Inter are 1st or 10th we know what they are capable of. And they are only 4 points that separate us. They certainly haven't had the best start to their season but you can't count them out of their usual scudetto race. Playing inter in their home stadium looks like an almost impossible feat for us. I feel taking a point would be the best possible scenario. While we hit the back of the net once last week .. Inter found it 5 times ... scoring is certainly not foreign to them as it is to us. Reja will have to really tighten the defense and keep someone close to eto. Probably best to go with a lone striker up front and play less attacking style. Winning would certainly make a state for us .. but at least we're on track with what we would have all settled with which is a spot in europe.

Hmm. That's what a lot of people keep saying, this isnt the Inter side of last year. What Inter would that be exactly? The one that limped through a champions league group stage, almost got hammered at home by Siena, got hammered by Catania, blew a huge lead in the Scudetto race. Yes, they won it all in the end and deservedly so but it was far from perfection in getting to that accomplishment. My point is there are similarities from last season for Inter, but other sides have closed the gap a bit and with their injury crisis they really felt it. Cambiasso and Motta are back, and look good. I agree Matrix at the back is deviod of pace and can be got at, but they are and will still be a be a big threat this season. Anything out of this game will be pretty decent.

We have to be the one's with a little arrogance or chip on our shoulder in this one!  Like the positive attitude.  365 couldn't have said it better.  Inter will always be Inter.  If anything it's not a diff. Inter side, It's a different, better Lazio side as imper said.  WE SHOULD BE FEARED!

Olimpia will fly, 50,000 + will be in attendance already confirmed, no Eto'o possibly no Milito and:

Baggio10 is serving up coffee's gratis @ his house for all those sneaky guys taking the day off work to watch.  PM me for directions.

Notable exclusions due to injury for the mighty Inter tomorrow.  Only 3 strikers availble.  Time to fly ragazzi!

OUT:Julio Cesar (GK, injured), W. Samuel (CB, likely out for season) Diego Milito (FW, injured), Samuel Eto'o (Suspended)

IN:
Here is the official squad list as confirmed by the club.

Goalkeepers: 12 Luca Castellazzi, 21 Paolo Orlandoni, 92 Alberto Gallinetta;

Defenders: 2 Ivan Cordoba, 4 Javier Zanetti, 6 Lucio, 23 Marco Materazzi, 34 Cristiano Biraghi, 36 Simone Benedetti, 39 Davide Santon, 57 Felice Natalino;

Midfielders: 5 Dejan Stankovic, 8 Thiago Motta, 10 Wesley Sneijder, 11 Sulley Muntari, 19 Esteban Cambiasso, 40 Obiora Nwankwo;

Strikers: 27 Goran Pandev, 31 Denis Alibec, 88 Jonathan Biabiany.

i hope so man.hope zarate, floccari and hernanes cause havoc!!!

Eto and Caesar missing should be a huge boost for us. We had a similar advantage last week with Maxi Lopez out and we failed to capitalize. I would be happy taking 1 point from this game and hopefully 3 next week at home against juventus. As it's been said before Inter is still the team to beat and if we managed to pull this off then Lazio's credibility in my eyes has been completely restored as one of serie a's top level clubs again. We haven't been scoring many goals as of late so i'm hoping we unleash all hell today. I'm hoping we can see the best come out of our players. I'm hoping we can see the best out of hernanes and zarate who if they are on their game can make a difference for us. I'm hoping Reja's plan isn't to play defensively and have Inter swarm our box for most of the game. Last season we let them walk over us for what i consider a good reason which was so that the merde couldn't win the scudetto. Today is different .. we need to prove that we aren't the relegation team from last year and it wasn't luck that brought us to where we are. This time it's not ex-Lazio star Crespo that will be trying to score on us .. but ex-Lazio star Pandev.. however Pandev hasn't exactly been the same as when he was with us and I hope it stays like that today.

To compensate for the Catania debacle, only a win could ever do to me tonight. Just because of those dreams I'm sure then entire team will fuck up and Inter will win a 3-0 route or something like that. I can't believe the fact we're still in the top two, and the upcoming games are both in each way a baptism of fire, games that we must escape with some respect left intact in order to fight for the CL slot - which is my dream with this season.

Forza