Mourinho warns Inter against cup complacency

Mourinho is not taking Juventus lightly (GETTY IMAGES)

The Internazionale coach, Jose Mourinho, insists he will not be taking Juventus lightly tonight despite the Turin outfit's dismal form of late. The Nerazzurri host Juve at the San Siro with a place in the semi-finals of the Coppa Italia up for grabs.

The winners will face Fiorentina in the last four of the competition.

Inter go into the game on the back of a 2-0 win over Milan in the city derby, a result which allowed Inter to extend their lead at the top of Serie A standings to nine points.

However, Mourinho has warned his players they will make a mistake if they underestimate Juventus, who lie 16 points behind them in the standings.

"It's a very dangerous game," he said. "Juve is a team that has great quality. We will have played two big games in the space of a few days and there is a danger of forgetting that tomorrow we are not playing a league game. Tomorrow we don't have a 16-point advantage over Juve, we have the same possibility to win this competition than Juve has."

The Juve coach Ciro Ferrara, goes into the encounter under extreme pressure. The Bianconeri, who were knocked out of the Champions League before the winter break, have lost five of their last six games in Serie A.

Saturday's 2-1 defeat to Roma saw Juve drop to sixth in the standings, four points behind Napoli, who hold the last Champions League qualifying spot. "In Italy, if a coach starts and ends a season in the same club he is not a coach but a hero," said Mourinho. "Every coach experiences beautiful and difficult times and at this point, Ferrara is not living through an easy situation."

Inter welcome back Cameroon striker Samuel Eto'o, who has been included in the squad even though he returned from the Africa Cup of Nations only on Tuesday.