Serie A league leaders Inter will be looking to return to winning ways when they take on Catania today night in Serie A after a lackluster Champions League performance.
It has been a mixed week for Jose Mourinho's side.
Last Saturday the team ran riot to win 5-0 away to Genoa, but on Tuesday Inter had to twice come from behind to salvage a 2-2 draw with Dynamo Kiev at the San Siro. Mourinho's side has now gone a year without a victory in European football's premier club competition and lies bottom of its group.
"In Italy we go onto the field and are calmer and more relaxed," Inter defender Davide Santon said. "In Europe we take to the field with all manner of thoughts running through our heads.
"We really have to do better because this is a crucial year for us in the Champions League and I think that it is having some bearing on our performance."
In the last round of matches, Catania recorded its first win of the season with a 2-1 victory over Cagliari that lifted the Sicilians out of the relegation zone.
In attack, Catania will be relying on the diminutive pair of Takayuki Morimoto and Giuseppe Mascara to provide its main goal threat.
Japan international Morimoto is the club's top scorer with three goals so far this season, while last term Mascara hit 12 but has only found the net once in Catania's opening eight games.
"Inter are extremely strong and has some world class players," Morimoto said. "But we will do our best to win. Last week's win against Cagliari has put the smile back on our faces after the seven previous games.
"Hopefully we can take confidence from winning those three points and play well in Milan."
Sampdoria will aim to go back to the top and put pressure on Inter by beating Bologna in the first fixture on Saturday after slipping two points behind Mourinho's side in the 1-1 draw with Lazio last time out.
After that game Sampdoria coach Luigi Del Neri was furious that his side had not been awarded a penalty after Modibo Diakhite appeared to foul Reto Ziegler.
Worse still Sampdoria is likely be without its leading scorer Giampaolo Pazzini who broke his nose in a collision with Lazio goalkeeper Fernando Muslera toward the end of the match.
This week, relegation threatened Bologna reacted to having taken just six points and won one match from its opening eight games by sacking coach Giuseppe Papadopulo.
His replacement is former Bologna player Franco Colomba, who says his first aim is to get the club out of the drop zone.
"I'm here to save this squad," Colomba said. "We have signed an agreement until June and I want to pay back (president, Francesca) Menarini's trust.
"This is a starting point, not an end in itself, but if we do avoid relegation I would like to think I had earned the club's trust."