[Thatslife]

Christian Vieri is set to return ahead of schedule for Inter Milan in Tuesday night's Champions League match against Dynamo Kiev.

The prolific striker has been sidelined recently with ankle bruising and was expected to miss the visit of Kiev to the San Siro.

But is has emerged that he could now play some part in the game, even if only for a few minutes, while he appears almost certain to play in the derby against AC Milan at the weekend.

Inter coach Hector Cuper said: "After consulting the doctor, who gave me the go-ahead to call him up, I spoke with Bobo (Vieri)."

The decision to include Vieri in Inter's squad came late on Monday night.

"I saw he was motivated and full of desire to be at the service of the team," Cuper said on www.inter.it.

"It's an opportunity for him and for us, seeing as we have the derby on Sunday. He told me he was feeling good and so I decided to call him up.

"Will he play from the start? No.

"He told me he's in the condition to play a few minutes. We'll take this into account during the course of the match and also according to how the match goes."

Vieri missed Inter's first Champions League match of the season, a surprisingly comfortable 3-0 win at Arsenal