MILAN (AP)

Inter Milan meet defending champions Barcelona in the Champions League semi-finals today hoping to emulate the Spanish side's treble-winning success of 2009.

Last year Barcelona won the Champions League, Spanish League and Spanish Cup and now, having reached the final of the Italian Cup, Inter are hopeful of lifting three trophies itself.

Inter, Serie A champions for the last four seasons, are one point behind AS Roma at the top of the table but have seen their domestic form falter recently as they progressed through the Champions League.

Critics have claimed that José Mourinho's team is lacking stamina as the season reaches its climax. Inter captain Javier Zanetti, a 36-year-old veteran who has played 47 games this season, denies such suggestions.

"At the moment I don't feel tired. I still feel good and I want to play my part for the team," Zanetti said. "We are fine. We are playing a lot of games at the moment and each one of them needs our full potential and we can't relax on any front. When we do start to feel tired we need to be smart about it and then we can get over it."

Inter and Barcelona have already met twice this season in the group stage. The teams drew 0-0 at San Siro and Barcelona won 2-0 at Camp Nou.

Inter then overcame Chelsea in the first knockout round before producing a clinical performance to secure victory in the quarter-finals against CSKA Moscow.

scored the winner

Samuel Eto'o scored the winner at Stamford Bridge and he knows Barcelona extremely well. The Cameroonian striker signed for Inter last summer after five seasons with the Catalan side for whom he scored in the 2006 and 2009 Champions League finals.

"We have to prepare in a calm manner. We have to try and anticipate what the game will be like and feel it inside our heads," Eto'o said. "Matches like this one are played more with the head than the feet."

Pedro and Gerard Pique scored the goals in Barcelona's win at Camp Nou, but midfielder Sergio Busquets says that results in the group stage are irrelevant.

"Inter know us better and they will be better prepared for our tactics," Busquets said. "Their confidence is high after getting through against teams like Chelsea and the fact that there is a chance of making the final will mean they come out really fired up."

Meanwhile, Barcelona were forced to use buses for the 725-kilometre (450-mile) trip to Milan after flights were grounded due to the cloud of volcanic ash from Iceland that has spread across Europe in recent days.

"We are in with a chance to reach another final and we don't want to throw that away," Busquets said. "We know Inter will make it tough for us. We have been having a lot of big games and it's not the ideal way to travel to Milan, but there can be no excuses. We have to get a good result that will allow us to go into the second leg with confidence.

"Maybe spending so long together on a coach will bring us closer and help us focus on beating Inter," he said. "It's a long time on the road and we're not really used to that but with music and a film or two, I'm sure the trip won't seem so long."