Mourinho lashes out at Ranieri jibes

Former Chelsea managers exchange unpleasantries

With just under four weeks until the start of the new Italian league season, Inter boss Jose Mourinho has already been involved in a war of words with rival manager Claudio Ranieri of Juventus.

The Portuguese took over at the San Siro in June after spending seven months out of the game following his departure from Chelsea last year. Now, after just two months in the job, Mourinho is embroiled in a public spat with Ranieri, who he replaced at Chelsea when he took the reigns at Stamford Bridge in 2004.

Ranieri, whose Juventus side are expected to be one of the main challengers to Inter’s Scudetto crown during the upcoming campaign, had already made one provocative remark aimed at the Portuguese late last week. The Italian suggested that the Nerazurri’s failed summer pursuit of Chelsea’s Frank Lampard was caused by Mourinho’s poor relationship with his former boss, Blues owner Roman Abramovich.

“If I’d have asked, he (Abramovich) would have given Lampard to me,” Ranieri said. “But not Mourinho, I’ll let you figure out why that is. But I never thought about buying him.”

Then, following Juventus’ friendly defeat to Hamburg on Sunday, Ranieri said, “Unlike Mourinho I don’t need to win to be sure of what I’m doing. I can take defeat because last year we lost a few and we always managed to react.”

Cutting riposte

Less than a day later and Mourinho delivered a biting response, mocking Ranieri’s achievements and teasing the 56-year-old about his age, as he prepares his Inter side for Tuesday’s friendly with German champions Bayern Munich.

“Ranieri was right – I do need to win things to be sure of what I’m doing,” said the former Porto boss. “That is why I have won so many trophies in my career.

“In contrast, he has the mentality that winning is not crucial and, at nearly 70 years old, he has won just a Supercup and some other small tournaments. He is too old to change his mentality now.”

Meanwhile, the two clubs could be set to put their differences aside in order to do a deal for Juventus midfielder Tiago Mendes, who according to press reports could move to the San Siro to rejoin former boss Mourinho at Inter, following a disastrous stay in Turin.

Ranieri cast further doubt over the former Chelsea man’s future last week when he told reporters: “The whole of Europe thinks he’s a great player but sometimes in football there are mysteries. There are flops in Italian football and sometimes it makes no sense, but lots of the fans want me to continue with Tiago.”