MILAN, MAY 21: One goal down but with its best players back from suspension, Inter is favoured to clinch its third UEFA Cup in six years when it takes on Schalke 04 in their second-leg final.

English midfielder Paul Ince, French forward Youri Djorkaeff and French defender Jocelyn Angloma will be starting in the match at San Siro Stadium, boosting Inter's chances to make up for a 1-0 defeat suffered in the first leg two weeks ago. The three Inter stars were suspended in the match at Gelsenkirchen.

The Italian team, the crosstown rival of AC Milan, will have to score two goals to secure the Cup but must beware of allowing none. ``Better we score three goals, to be on the safe side,'' said goalie Gianluca Pagliuca, whose daring saves helped Inter to reach the Cup finals and hold third place in the Italian League standings.

The star-studded forward line of Inter, also Including UEFA Cup leading striker Maurizio Ganz (eight goals) and Chilean star Ivan Zamorano, is capable of high scoring. But the defense is less than faultless. It has allowed one goal in each of the last six league matches and in the three previous Cup games.

Another worrying statistic for Inter is that the German team has always scored in Cup matches on the road.

``I hope it does not happen tomorrow,'' said Roy Hodgson, the English coach of Inter, who will leave the Milan team at the end of the current campaign to join Blackburn. ``It would be dramatic if they score an early goal.''Schalke's captain Olaf Thon, recovered from a thigh strain and fit to play today, said he expected a steady offense by Inter from the very first minute.

``They will try to destroy us immediately, to score a quick goal,'' Thon said in the resort of Cansiglio, near Milan, where the West German national team stayed during the successful 1990 World Cup.

``We are mentally prepared for this. And we must avoid an overly defensive strategy. With the help of luck we can take the Cup. We have high hopes and good chances,'' Thon said.

Schalke, which is seeking to become the fifth German club to capture the UEFA Cup, rested several key players in last Saturday's 1-2 loss at 1860 Munich, which extended Schalke's winless streak to 10 rounds in the Bundesliga.

Inter initially rested Djorkaeff and Argentine midfielder Javier Zanetti in last Sunday's league match against Roma. But Hodgson was forced to field both in the second half, with Djoekaeff scoring a late 1-1 equaliser.Inter will be without suspended defender Fabio Galante and injured forward Marco Branca. Schalke will miss Dutch striker Youri Mulder and US international Tom Dooley, both injured.

Striker Martin Max and Belgian forward Marc Wilmots, who scored the first-leg winner with a long-distance shot, will lead Schalke's offense in front of a sold-out crowd of 83,000.

``For us the game is everything. It's all or nothing,'' said Schalke's manager Rudi Assauer.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.