It was crushing defeat in the Coppa Italia this week for Internazionale, and to next-door neighbors A.C. Milan no less. With that semifinal exit, the treble that Inter were loudly pursuing this season has evaporated. Now there are merely two competitions they’re in a good position to win: the Champions League — if they can get past Barcelona in the semifinal — and Serie A.

The latter is where they’ll meet Roma this weekend for another highly difficult encounter, even at the San Siro. The visitors have not lost a league match since December, an incredible turnaround from a frankly disastrous opening period of the season, and they’ve zipped up the table to compete for a Champions League place. At the heart of it all is Claudio Ranieri, the 73-year-old Roman who came out of retirement to manage his hometown club for one final chapter (maybe) of a lifelong football romance.

Here to get into all that ahead of kickoff is Alasdair Mackenzie, Rome-based writer for TNT Sports, Destination Calcio, Total Italian Football and more.

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And as always, for kickoff times and storylines on all the other matches worth your time this weekend, check TheFootballWeekend.com.

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