Mancini focusing on title charge

Internazionale coach Roberto Mancini aims to put a turbulent week behind him and focus on football when his side host Palermo on Sunday.

Mancini saw his side dumped out of the Champions League by Liverpool in midweek and then promptly announced he would step down at the end of the campaign.

The 43-year-old then surprisingly reversed his decision the following day after what he called “a 10-minute meeting” with club president Massimo Moratti.

He told Gazetta Dello Sport: “I have certainly given the media a lot to write about in the past few days. I have not had any trauma and the squad have not either.

“Moratti and me were alone together and all this was ended immediately. I feel a lot more positive now than I did, although all that has been talked about is our elimination from the Champions League.”

Quick to move on and look forward to the Palermo game, Mancini urged his side to put a sequence of victories together in order to retain the Serie A title.

He said: “Palermo are like Reggina – hard and difficult competition – but if we play like we have done we can do well. To win the league, we need a series of victories so this will be an important week.

“The squad is in good condition, the possibility is there, the championship is still open and we should fight to the wire. We have an advantage to manage and it will be us alone that preserves it.”

Inter welcome defender Marco Materazzi back from suspension, but Olivier Dacourt, Walter Samuel, Ivan Cordoba, Maxwell and Cesar are all out.

Palermo defender Federico Balzaretti has called the trip to the San Siro “the worst time to play Inter”.

The 26-year-old full-back returns from suspension to face Inter for the first time as a Palermo player, having joined the club from Fiorentina in the January transfer window.

His new team are still chasing the remote possibility of a European place and three points against Inter would be a significant boost.

He told the club’s official website, www.ilpalermocalcio.it: “It is the worst moment to play against them because they will be more compact and eager to win the championship as soon as possible.

“But we have been playing well recently, showing everybody that we are a real team, so we will give our best. Inter will probably push right from the beginning of the match, trying to lead it.

“We will just have to wait and, since we have nothing to lose, we can dare to try to play a good match. We will certainly not be afraid or ashamed and above all we will have to be very careful.

“Inter have been going through a bad period but saying that it will be easy to win would be a big mistake.”

Strikers Cavani and Amauri both came through last weekend’s 1-1 draw with Udinese unscathed and should form the attack. Ciro Capuano is injured.