José Mourinho has chosen the eve of his first meeting with Chelsea since leaving Stamford Bridge 2½ years ago to launch a thinly veiled attack on his former club.
The Inter Milan coach attempted to claim all the credit for Chelsea’s development into a leading European force and accused Roman Abramovich of signing the wrong players before he took over as manager in 2004.
Any encounter between Mourinho and Abramovich tomorrow night at San Siro, where Inter play Chelsea in the first leg of their Champions League round-of-16 tie, is likely to be a frosty affair.
Mourinho’s relationship with Abramovich began to deteriorate as a result of a clash over transfer policy in January 2007. Mourinho wanted sole control and was furious when the owner prevented him from signing a centre back during the transfer window to provide cover for the injured John Terry, creating a source of conflict that resulted in the manager’s departure eight months later.
Apparently, there is no love lost between Mourinho and current Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti. The two were rivals last season in Italy while managing against each other in Milan - Ancelotti was the manager of AC Milan while Mourinho is with cross-town rivals Inter.
It does not appear that Ancelotti appreciates Mourinho's daggers thrown through the media, or his lack of playing pedigree.
Carlo Ancelotti “I have friends outside of football. Mourinho is just a colleague who I respect. Friends? He is not my friend.”
“If Mourinho is Jesus, then I am certainly not one of his apostles.”
“Mourinho? I am not fascinated by his personality when he communicates. Sometimes he says useless things. I focus on work.”
“Is Mourinho up for my job at Milan? We’ve already found someone to replace [Alessandro] Costacurta, but if we’d known earlier, we could have found him a job. Helping the goalkeeper coach? No, he’s never played football, he wouldn’t be capable of shooting on goal.”
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