Toldo ready to thwart Valencia

Francesco Toldo had a lively night on his last visit to the Mestalla stadium. The Internazionale FC goalkeeper was sent off towards the end of last season's UEFA Cup quarter-final second leg but the Italian side hung on for a 1-0 victory on the night to progress 2-1 on aggregate.

Back in Spain
A year on and the 31-year-old finds himself going back to Spain at the same stage of the UEFA Champions League. This time Inter have a goal advantage, thanks to Christian Vieri's strike a fortnight ago, and Toldo is confident his team will triumph again.

Outstanding form
"I hope the match will be quieter than last year's," the 1.96m-tall Toldo said, referring to a thrilling contest that saw Nicola Ventola give Inter an early lead before Valencia laid siege to his goal. The home side were frustrated to find Toldo in outstanding form, making save after save - including spectacular stops to deny Francisco Rufete and Vicente Rodríguez.

Dramatic finish
Reflecting on that nail-biting night, Toldo said: "I had a lot of work and we made our fans suffer much more than we would have liked." The visitors' nerves were jangling even more after he received his second yellow card for time-wasting with five minutes remaining. Ex-Valencia player Francisco Farinós took over in goal but Inter recorded a dramatic win and Valencia's first home defeat in Europe for nearly ten years.

Deadly duo
Revenge will be on the agenda then for the Spanish side and the Padova-born Toldo expects Pablo Aimar and John Carew to pose the biggest threat, as they did two weeks ago. In the first leg at the San Siro, Argentinian playmaker Aimar thought he had equalised in the 63rd minute, only for Toldo to make a superb one-handed save. "I think Aimar and Carew are the most dangerous Valencia players," Toldo said. "Aimar is very fast and difficult to control. He drives Valencia's way of playing. Carew is very powerful and has a right-foot shot that is very hard to save."

Focused on task
Toldo, who has played in all 13 of his side's Champions League matches this season, is more than capable of frustrating the Valencia forwards again. Curiously, he and Gianluigi Buffon, his rival for the Italy No1 shirt, are the two goalkeepers his Valencia counterpart, Santiago Cañizares, most admires, so he has every reason to feel confident.

No nerves
He said: "We're not nervous at all, as some people are saying about us. They don't know what happens inside Inter's dressing room." Yet Valencia will feel they have a chance of finding a way through, especially against a defence which has conceded 16 goals in this year's Champions League - along with Manchester United FC, the highest 'goals against' record of the remaining eight sides.

Defensive approach
Carew for one is confident his side "can win the game". He said: "I think they'll play very defensively. We have to get out wide, move the ball around. We're the ones who'll have most of the possession and we have to keep on going for the full 90 minutes." They may have to as, this time around, Toldo has every intention of being in Valencia's way for the whole match.