APPIANO GENTILE - As always, Juventus-Inter has the feel of an epic encounter. Three points from tomorrow night's derby d'Italia at Turin's Stadio Olimpico tomorrow night will see us tighten our grip on the Scudetto, but José Mourinho reminded journalists in his pre-match press conference about one important aspect: the mathematics.

"There's no 'almost Italian champions'; either you are or you aren't," said the Inter coach after Friday's training session. "And after tomorrow night's match there will be another six until the end of the championship. We will be Italian champions when the mathematics says so. Inter have always shown that they are psychologically strong, they have always replied to defeats with victories, like in the derby or in Manchester, and this is why they deserve to win the championship. But there's a distance between deserving and winning, and it is that distance that we have to travel. Football is mathematics.

"It will be a match with potential equilibrium, between players with different qualities but similar potential. If one of the two teams doesn't play well, it will definitely lose. If both do well, the episodes will be decisive. You don't just win a championship in the head-to-head matches; you win it point by point, especially in Italy where the tournament is very different from England and Spain, but it is clear that we are going to Turin to win. A draw could be a useful result, but we are going there to win."

Inter will be looking to do the double over their arch rivals after their 1-0 win in Milan last November, when Mourinho realised just what matches against Juve mean to all Nerazzurri fans. "After the victory in the reverse fixture I saw a supernatural joy that is not only the joy of winning, but something more," he said. "Coming from abroad you can't understand it immediately. Before, I thought that the match against Milan was the most exciting match for Interisti, but since that day I have understood that there's something extra with Juventus. However, I didn't grow up with this culture and I think that being cold in my role as a coach can be an advantage."

Besides Adriano, injured players Francesco Bolzoni, Luis Jimenez, Maicon and Nelson Rivas miss out on the Turin trip while Mancini, back in full training yesterday after a muscular injury, is still not match fit.

Serie A top scorer Zlatan Ibrahimovic, meanwhile, is seen as a potential match winner. "I'm expecting him to do the same as always," said Mourinho. "He's a great player who plays for the team and you can't win the match without the team. I'm just asking him to be motivated to the maximum. If Ibra doesn't score tomorrow but gets another three or four until the end of the championship, it's perfect."

Mourinho gave no hints about his team to face the Bianconeri, not even on a possible return of Julio Cruz. "If he has been called up it means he can play," said the Inter coach, who left the journalists with a certainty. "No fear if the Juventus fans are waiting for me. A bit of verbal aggression can be part of the game, but we live and work in a great, civil country, so there's no fear."