Tuesday afternoon's match was played on a synthetic pitch and the strange bounces seemed to affect Inter's play from the outset. Atalanta defended strategically, did not create many chances, and saved their best for the penalty shoot-out. Inter are out of the Viareggio Cup, and as they say in these cases, it wasn't our destiny.

Click below to see photos of Mourinho's assistant coach, who as an Inter player clocked up 559 appearances from 1976-1992, speaking before the press:

Wesley Sneijder, on leave yesterday and suspended for the Tardini clash, was back to work with the squad today. Sulley Muntari also trained with his team-mates after a day's rest. Dejan Stankovic trained apart.

Cristian Chivu was put through a light athletic session on his welcome return to the training ground this morning.

"We will have to be careful because Parma have been through a difficult patch and they will want to win points at all costs; we are prepared for a hard match," said Baresi, who performed José Mourinho's press conference duties as a belated present. 

"A victory tomorrow would be a nice victory, but there are still fifteen games until the end of the season. The championship race is not over yet."

Parma haven't won in six Serie A outings and will be without key players Massimo Paci and Christian Panucci at the Tardini, but Baresi insists the Gialloblu have ample cover for their two suspended defenders. "Those who replace these two players will still be capable of weaking the opponents. They have Dellafiore, Lucarelli and Zaccardo - all quality players."

Baresi said Inter will continue to rotate players and, like Mourinho did in Saturday's pre-match chat with the Italian press, revealed four of the starters against Parma tomorrow night. "If we go and analyse the last few games, we can see that there have been one, two or three changes," he said. "Match after match we decide who to play and who to rest, but I can tell you that Julio Cesar, Maicon, Lucio and Zanetti will start the game tomorrow."

Inter have used a host of systems this season, but the result is always the same. "Improvement comes when you get good results independently of the tactical module," explained Baresi. "The great strength of this team is its condition, the quality, but also the simplicity with which it develops its game."

February is an important month for the Nerazzurri, who return to the European stage after upcoming games at Parma, Napoli and at home to Sampdoria. "For now we are thinking about Parma; the game against Chelsea is in three weeks' time. We are concentrated on the first objective, which is Parma," said Baresi.

Baresi, a player in Giovanni Trapattoni's record-breaking Inter, compared his former coach with José Mourinho: "Both had victory as their goal and they both share their success with the staff and the club."

Click below to see more photos of Tuesday morning's session:

Click below for photos of the Nerazzurri at work during Tuesday's training session:

Goalkeepers: 1 Francesco Toldo, 12 Julio Cesar, 21 Paolo Orlandoni.

Defenders: 2 Ivan Ramiro Cordoba, 4 Javier Zanetti, 6 Lucio, 13 Maicon, 23 Marco Materazzi, 25 Walter Samuel, 39 Davide Santon.

Midfielders: 7 Ricardo Quaresma, 8 Thiago Motta, 15 Rene Krhin, 17 MacDonald Mariga, 19 Esteban Cambiasso.

Strikers: 9 Samuel Eto'o, 22 Diego Milito, 27 Goran Pandev, 45 Mario Balotelli, 89 Marko Arnautovic.

"After our defeat in the championship we face Atalanta again knowing that we have taken great steps forward in our preparation. We have a much improved team from last December," Pea told inter.it.

"Our opponents don't worry us. We have got to this stage and we want to carry on until the end of this adventure. There's no team that I would have preferred to face because there's no team that can be considered more or less strong.

"Every match is hard in the same way. It doesn't match which team you are up against; what counts most is that Inter do their best, match after match."

Captain Luca Caldirola and the Primavera lads trained this afternoon for the last time before tomorrow afternoon's round of sixteen clash. Joining them was midfielder Jean Mbida, who sat out the games against the Serie D Rep. Team and APIA Leichhardt Tigers after taking part in Inter's opener against FK Jedinstvo.

Journalists and TV/radio technicians can enter the press room at the Centro Sportivo Angelo Moratti at 12:45. No photographers will be admitted.

Getting to the training ground

Click below for more photos of Monday morning's training session: