Inter Milan meets Napoli in Serie A after midweek loss in Europe

Inter Milan coach Jose Mourinho has publicly accepted the blame for his team's home loss to Panathinaikos. Now, he must motivate his players for Sunday's Serie A match against Napoli or risk increasing his culpability.

"I accept the blame for this defeat and now we have to look forward," Mourinho said Wednesday after his team lost 1-0 to Panathinaikos in the Champions League group stage.

After a slow start, Inter has opened a three-point lead over city rival AC Milan in the Serie A, but the team has won only its first of five games in the Champions League. Despite Wednesday's loss, Inter qualified for the last 16 of the Champions League.

Mourinho will be looking to make sure his team's lackluster Champions League performances aren't transferred to the Serie A.

Napoli, four points behind Inter to be tied for third, has been one of the biggest surprises after finishing eighth last season, 35 points back from Inter. Napoli has seen several games slip away this year in the last minutes otherwise it could be even higher.

Last week, Cagliari scored in the final minute of injury time to draw a game that Napoli had controlled almost from the start. Coach Edoardo Reja berated his players, saying their youth was also partly to blame for a similar result against AC Milan earlier.

Mourinho, for his part, is likely to continue experimenting until he finds a winning combination. He has had a different starting lineup in each of Inter's 13 league games this year. On Wednesday, he started with two wingers and then later fielded three strikers.

Also Sunday, AS Roma hosts Fiorentina. Roma started slowly, dropping to just one point clear of relegation, but the team has played well lately including a 3-1 Champions League win at CFR Cluj and a 3-0 victory at Lecce last weekend in the Serie A.

Captain Francesco Totti scored in both games and appears to be finding form after injuries hampered his start to the season.

"I said this was a quality team and I have been proven correct," Roma coach Luciano Spalletti said. "The crisis is over. In the game against Cluj, I saw some things in the team that give me reason to hope. We can still improve very much."

Roma is 16 points behind Inter with a game in hand, but Totti and teammates are expected to find a demoralized Fiorentina after it was eliminated from the Champions League on Tuesday.

AC Milan, which travels to Palermo, plays Portsmouth later Thursday in the UEFA Cup.

Juventus hosts Reggina on Saturday looking to rebound from last week's loss to Inter and an uninspired 0-0 draw with Zenit St. Petersburg in the Champions League. Juventus had already qualified for the last 16 with two games to spare.

Also, it's: Atalanta vs. Lazio; Cagliari vs. Sampdoria; Genoa vs. Bologna; Siena vs. Torino; Udinese vs. Chievo Verona; and Lecce vs. Catania.