Internazionale coach Jose Mourinho paid tribute to their first leg Champions League quarterfinal opponent CSKA Moscow as they meet tonight at San Siro-saying they can not rule out of them because they have good players like Krasic and Gonzalez who are dangerous on the counter-attacks.

The Italians are playing their first Champions League quarterfinal since 2006/2007 season and the boss expects to be a crucial game.

"It's very difficult to play against this kind of team," said the Inter coach on club’s official site.

"They ran a lot in their game against Manchester United in the group stage and I was very impressed with their physical condition. They are at the start of their championship now so they are fresh. The way they play, they are very compact. All their defenders and defensive midfielders are very tall, they have Krasic and Gonzalez who are dangerous on the counter-attack, and if these two players don't score they run back to defend. Krasic scores in almost every game for them."

Mourinho, then, said he expects the same squad he played against in 2004/05 but this time with more experience and he has ruled out of himself as favourites.

"Before the game against Chelsea I said you can never say after the first game if it's a great result or not. Looking at the last sixteen ties the only match that was only really decided after the first leg was Milan-Manchester. All the other games went to the end. We scored against Chelsea at the end, but who's to say they couldn't have scored twice in ten minutes? It will be the same tomorrow. I think everything will go down to the second game. CSKA are almost the same team that I played against in 2004/05, but with much more experience. They have a very high level of experience, so I don't consider us as favourites. It's a completely open two-legged clash. They are a quality team who deserve to be in the quarter-finals,” former Chelsea mentor said.

"Something grey about their path in the Champions League? If two of their players go to the antidoping (after last November's match against Manchester United) and they find a substance that is not permitted in the Champions League, then there's something grey."

Mourinho believes the home crowd can give them a huge advantage tonight and said he will do as much as possible to reach into semifinals.

"Inter are having a great Champions League. We have played eight games, including four against two of the best teams in the world: two against Barcelona, the world champions, and two against Chelsea who many thought were too strong for us.

"The victory over Chelsea was fantastic for us and the wins against Kazan and Kiev were important too. The team is playing at a Champions League level, we are in the quarter-finals and we want to get to the semi-finals. So do CSKA, who didn't have any easy group which included Manchester United, while in the last sixteen they faced a Spanish team that plays quality football. This is Inter's best Champions League in recent years and we want to do everything to reach the semi-finals.

"We had a great San Siro against Kazan and then against Chelsea, and I'm expecting the same tomorrow: a San Siro that gets behind the team in what will be a difficult match," he added.

Photo courtesy: The Mirror