Mourinho has Inter in peak form

Jose Mourinho's Internazionale side go into their Champions League home match with surprise Group B co-leader Anorthosis Famagusta tonight after their most impressive display of the season.

The reigning Italian champions routed Roma 4-0 away from home on Sunday. "It was the best Inter since I've been here," Mourinho said. Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored twice with Dejan Stankovic and Victor Obinna getting the other two goals against Inter's closest domestic challenger from the past two seasons.

"You can see the play evolving into the way Mourinho wants it," Massimo Moratti, the Inter president, said. "It's really great to see the efforts realised."

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A victory over Anorthosis would give Inter control of their group, but the first team from Cyprus in Europe's top competition have proved they are not a pushover. After drawing 0-0 with Werder Bremen, Anorthosis beat Panathinaikos 3-1 and are level with Inter on four points. "We all know how football works. One day you're up with the stars and the next day criticism rains down," Moratti said. "Let's keep our feet on the ground."

Adriano is expected to return to Inter's attack after being left on the bench against Roma for showing up late to training. Mario Balotelli, who scored twice for Italy's under-21s side last week, could also play. The defenders Marco Materazzi, Nicolas Burdisso and Walter Samuel are all returning from injuries, while Patrick Vieira and Maxwell are still out.

Anorthosis dropped their first points in the Cypriot championship in a 0-0 draw with lowly Paphos over the weekend, with Polish striker Lukasz Sosin missing a penalty deep in added time at the end of the second half.

The Anorthosis manager, Temuri Ketsbaia, once of Newcastle United, criticised his players for their "mediocrity," saying his side got what they deserved, and any distraction for the Inter game was no excuse.

"This match is over and now our attention turns to the match with Inter. I hope that we are ready so we can hope for something positive against a great team," Ketsbaia said.

Included in the squad to face Inter are Sosin, the Greece defender Traianos Dellas, Portugal midfielder Paolo Costa, France midfielder Cedric Bardon and the Brazil forward Savio. Savio's cross set up the Serbian midfielder Sinisa Dobrasinovic for Anorthosis' first Champions League goal against Panathinaikos, and Iraqi substitute Hawar Taher also scored.

Mourinho, who on Sunday admitted he would like to return to the Premier League one day, has lamented poor attendances at San Siro and has appealed for fans to support the side tonight. So far, only about 30,000 tickets have been sold, with 1,500 Anorthosis fans expected from Cyprus.

Meanwhile, in Chelsea's group, C, Bordeaux's chances of qualifying for the knockout stages appear to rest with the playmaker Yoann Gourcuff at home to CFR Cluj-Napoca tonight.

Since breaking into the France team last month, Gourcuff, on loan from Milan, has been in superb form. He set up the first goal and scored a stunning second with a 35-yard shot in France's 2-2 draw against Romania in World Cup qualifying, and also set up another in a 2-1 win over Serbia.

On Saturday, Bordeaux beat Toulouse 2-1 in the French league with Gourcuff scoring a sensational opener that drew comparisons with Zinedine Zidane. Gourcuff collected the ball on the edge of the penalty area, dragged it back and backheeled it between two defenders, before hitting a powerful shot low into the net. Even Zidane was moved to comment on the goal, but tried to take the pressure off Gourcuff.

"It's not a gift [the comparisons]. I was compared to [Michel] Platini. The first time it's nice," Zidane said. "But Gourcuff is Gourcuff. You shouldn't make comparisons as that only handicaps the player."