Nancy: I'll avenge lies

It was menacing language, the sort of talk you might expect to hear from a hot-tempered Italian.

But this was no mafioso talking; it was the glamorous girlfriend of England's football manager.

Nancy Dell'Olio fixed her interviewer with a steely glare as she spoke of 'the enemies driving me and Sven apart'.

'They will not win - we are like chess players and we will have check mate,' the 43-year-old glowered in true Corleone style.

'As the saying goes, he who laughs last laughs longest.'

The lawyer was speaking to glossy Italian weekly Chi about the sex scandals that have recently beset partner Sven-Goran Eriksson.

Even though Sven has cheated on her at least twice - with Ulrika Jonsson and FA secretary Faria Alam - she now seems somewhat in denial.

Dell'Olio insisted she would be taking legal action against those who 'attack our private lives'.

'They do it to hit Sven's professional reputation,' she said. 'They attack our personal feelings in the hope he will weaken. We will not be intimidated by this tissue of lies.'