Ronaldinho poised for Serie A debut

Brief news ahead of this weekend's matches in Italy's Serie A

* Brazil forward Ronaldinho is set to make his Serie A debut in AC Milan's home game against promoted Bologna on Sunday, but Andriy Shevchenko may start on the bench after returning to the San Siro from Chelsea, according to Italian media.

Swiss defender Philippe Senderos, who arrived at Milan on loan from Arsenal this week, is unavailable with a back problem while playmaker Kaka, striker Marco Borriello and defender Alessandro Nesta are out injured too.

* Marco Materazzi looks poised to start for champions Inter Milan at Sampdoria on Saturday after missing almost all the pre-season with a thigh muscle problem as new coach Jose Mourinho seeks to deal with an injury crisis in defence.

Inter are without injured defenders Nicolas Burdisso, Nelson Rivas, Walter Samuel and Cristian Chivu while Ivan Cordoba is fighting to come back from surgery, so Mourinho may be forced to field midfielder Esteban Cambiasso in his back-line.

Inter's Brazil striker Adriano and France captain Patrick Vieira are unfit too.

* Captain Francesco Totti will miss AS Roma's opener against Napoli at the Olympic Stadium because of an ankle problem he suffered in last Sunday's Super Cup defeat by Inter.

Totti came on as a substitute in that game to make his first competitive appearance since injuring his knee in April.

Roma, last year's runners-up, are also without Brazilian winger Rodrigo Taddei, who has a leg muscle problem.

* Mali midfielder Momo Sissoko is suspended for Juventus's visit to fierce rivals Fiorentina, who finished one place behind the Turin giants in fourth last season, in Sunday's late game).

Juve's Czech midfielder Pavel Nedved is a doubt after taking a knock to his right ankle in training, while defenders Giorgio Chiellini and Jonathan Zebina and midfielders Marco Marchionni and Cristiano Zanetti are injured.

* Fiorentina striker Adrian Mutu is a doubt because of the elbow problem he suffered while training with the Romania national team before a friendly against Latvia earlier this month.