APPIANO GENTILE - José Mourinho believes Inter can come away from the Stadio Renzo Barbera with a positive result tomorrow night.

"We're optimistic. We're convinced we can do well but we know that Palermo are a very difficult team to face," the Nerazzurri coach said during Friday's press briefing. "We know it will be a hard match because they play well at home. They have won four of their last five league games at home and this statistic speaks for itself, but we are aware of our capabilities. We have shown desire and team spirit. A winning spirit which has seen us score and play very strong in the last minutes of games."

Mourinho admitted that a whole week of training sessions has been beneficial to his team. "I think our best game so far was the Roma match, which came after the week when we worked together," he said. I gave the squad a day off after Udinese so the players could rest. We have worked very well this week and were able to have a simple and fun training session today. I saw a positive atmosphere and a fantastic relationship between the players."

Ghana midfielder Muntari is poised to return from injury in Sicily, while Ibrahimovic is set for his twelfth start in as many Serie A games. "I can you that Muntari, Ibra and nine others will play," Mourinho replied when asked to reveal his lineup to face the Rosanero. "Mancini played very well against the Côte d'Ivoire team in the midweek friendly and he scored two goals. Obinna came on against Udinese and did very well for us, giving our game more velocity and winning us the corner that led to our goal. Balotelli has played well recently and so have Ibrahimovic and Cruz."

The Inter coach explained the absences of Adriano and Quaresma from his 21-player squad for Palermo: "We have a very strong group of strikers and I can't call them all up. Adriano would have been there if he hadn't had the flu. I gave Quaresma the chance to get away from football for three days because he lives alone here in Italy and I wanted him to return to his family for a few days. Next week will be an important week for him. There are national team games two days before the Juventus match. A lot of players will be away and Quaresma will be an important option for us."

According to Mourinho, there will make no changes to his squad from now until the end of the season. He said: "I am totally willing to conclude the season with the players I have now. It won't be me to ask for arrivals or departures. Crespo? It's easy to imagine that a club like Real Madrid might target Hernan as a replacement for van Nistelrooy in attack because there aren't many quality players around who are available for the Champions League. If Crespo is considered important for another team in January, why can't he be important for us. He can return to the Champions League list and be an important player for us if we win the group and qualify for the last sixteen, which I think will happen."

Mourinho, whose relationship with the Italian press has come under scrutiny in recent weeks, was asked to draw comparisons with the English media. "It's impossible to compare the Italian and English press," he replied. "You can compare the Spanish or Portuguese press to the Italian press because we have the same culture, but it's impossible to compare what is incomparable. In Portugal for example, there are ten million inhabitants and like you, they have three sports dailies. There are no sports dailies in England, there are two pages of football every day and on Mondays there's a supplement of six or seven pages. There's Skysport that talks a bit about football every day but nothing more, the BBC does a one-minute flash interview on Saturdays and Sundays, and then there's a press conference that lasts fifteen minutes. It's impossible to compare."

Rumours of talks with Manchester City surfaced in the week. Rumours that Mourinho was quick to deny. Asked if his 'emissaries' have met with the Premier League club's new owners, he replied: "I don't have emissaries. I have an agent who only does what I ask him to, and I haven't asked him to do anything."