Mourinho triumphs as Inter pip Chelsea

As opposed to last week’s Champions League blog, where I reviewed the events of each match, this week I will do something slightly different and focus on one of the most famous managers in the world who led saw his team host Chelsea in the San Siro. Why am I doing this? Well, it just so happens that at the weekend, Inter Milan manager Jose Mourinho was banned by Lega Calcio for three matches following his actions during the 0-0 draw at home to Sampdoria, which saw the Nerazzurri reduced to nine-men. Mourinho proceeded to make a gesture like he was in handcuffs and laughed hysterically when striker Samuel Eto’o was booked for diving in the second half. This is just another example of Mourinho clashing with the Italian game – whether it be the media, the fans, the players, the officials or even opposing managers, the Portuguese tactician just does not feel at home. His former star striker, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, recently mentioned that the ex-Chelsea manager will look to leave Italy and return to England. In England, he enjoyed a much warmer relationship with everyone except perhaps Arsene Wenger. There are a few questions that I will look at today. Firstly, why does Mourinho endure such a hostile relationship with the whole of Italy. Secondly, what is next for the man who has won a league title every single season so far since 2003 and has not seen any of his last three teams, Porto, Chelsea and Inter, lose at home in the league since February 2002 – 130 games ago!

Last night, Mourinho’s Inter beat his former Chelsea charges 2-1. Carlo Ancelotti is reasonably confident of overturning the deficit given the away goal scored by Salomon Kalou. Inter played very well, with much of the Italian press impressed with their league champions showing, calling it well overdue. Eto’o and Diego Milito caused all sorts of problems for the Chelsea backline, with Milito opening the scoring after just three minutes, cutting inside a distinctly average-looking John Terry and firing past Petr Cech. Milito’s showing makes it hard to believe that he is likely to be overlooked by the sometimes clueless Diego Maradona for the Argentina World Cup squad. It is my firm belief that the striker should actually be spearheading the Argentine attack in the summer.

Chelsea responded well to falling behind, keeping the ball well and pouring forward with sustained pressure. However, Inter contained the visitors well and man-of-the-match Lucio was terrific in defence, despite the threat of Drogba, who struck the crossbar on 14 minutes. The Brazilian was a complete contrast to Terry, who was all over the place, to be honest. No doubt though, Chelsea were denied a stonewall penalty when Kalou was felled by Walter Samuel. Mourinho later came out and admitted Chelsea deserved a penalty (not in his ITV interview). After Kalou equalised thanks to good work by Branislav Ivanovic and Jon Obi Mikel, Esteban Cambiasso struck an unstoppable effort into the bottom right corner past a helpless Cech. Sooner after, Cech was stretchered off with what looks like a serious knee ligament injury. This is a major blow to the Blues, who had to field Florent Malouda at left-back given the injuries to Ashley Cole and Yury Zhirkov.

At the final whistle, the Inter boss showed little emotion, just as when his side scored. There is no doubt that he still has found memories of the club that he took to the next level. Mourinho’s adventure in Italy was a result of him being dismissed by Roman Abramovich in late 2007. He left Chelsea off the pace in the league which prompted the Russian billionaire to chop the man who had led the team to unprecedented success. Apparently, Mourinho had lost some of the dressing room. He sat out the next few months, with no real interesting projects on the table. He was fleetingly linked with the top job at Barcelona when Frank Rijkaard was suffering, but instead he took the opportunity at Inter Milan when Massimo Moratti and current Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini parted ways.

In his first season, Mourinho’s Inter won the league by ten points. However, this was not enough. Many would point to Inter’s dismal showing in the Champions League that season – something that Moratti desires so passionately as he wants to restore Inter to their European conquering ways as they were under his father, Angelo Moratti – as a reason for Mourinho’s criticism, as the man was brought to the club given his success in the competition. In that season, Inter drew at Cypriot side Anorthosis Famagusta and lost at home to Panathinaikos 1-0. In the end, Inter were tamely eliminated by finalists Manchester United.

There have been many Mourinho rants. Many have been at referees. As the excellent Italian football expert Gabriele Marcotti points out, if you type the words ‘Mourinho’ and ‘referee’ into Google, you will get a ridiculous amount of hits. Given his frequency of referee focussed comments, one would think that Mourinho is either a man who is the victim of a mass conspiracy or he is deluded and paranoid. Fellow managers have also felt the wrath of Mourinho. Last season, the infamous ‘zero titoli’ interview Mourinho gave in March was his way of pointing out that the then bosses of Milan, Roma and Juventus (Ancelotti, Spalletti and Ranieri respectively) would end the season without any silverware. Mourinho then clashed with national team manager Marcello Lippi, who predicted that Juventus would win this season’s title at the start of the campaign. The Inter boss said this was disrespectful. Many Inter legends, such as Giuseppe Bergomi, have spoken out against Mourinho’s antics.

Mourinho’s transfer record at Inter has been erratic, to say the least. When he came to Italy, it was clear that his plan was to play 4-3-3. To do this, he spent €32m on wingers Amantino Mancini and Ricardo Quaresma. It is universally agreed that both players have been disastrous for the Benemata, with the latter being farmed out on loan to Chelsea after just six months. Even Sulley Muntari, signed from Portsmouth for €14m has not been a total hit. To his credit, it does appear that Mourinho has turned things around at Inter in terms of his squad and transfer record. In his second summer, he brought in Genoa pair Diego Milito and Thiago Motta. Milito is an assured finisher, clinical and a real quality presence in the box, as shown last night. He also brought in Wesley Sneijder to play in the hole behind two strikers, and the Dutchman has been a real star for the champions this season. Finally, he managed to secure the signing of Samuel Eto’o and received €46m to send Ibrahimovic to Barcelona. This must be seen as good business considering the Swedish striker’s inability to perform with the same level of distinction as the Cameroonian. Furthermore, the money has helped strengthen the whole squad with the aforementioned acquisitions as well as that of Brazilian national team captain Lucio. Furthermore, Mourinho picked up two bargains in the January transfer window, signing Goran Pandev on a free and picking up promising midfielder McDonald Mariga from Parma. However, Mourinho has often been accused of not making his Inter side Italian enough. This is despite having two exceptional young, Italian talents in his side – Mario Balotelli and Davide Santon. The former has a fractious relationship with his boss, who said his striker “has one brain cell”, while the latter had a storming first season but has seen his playing time reduced in the second season. Nevertheless, the fact is that Mourinho has now forged a squad that gives him plenty of different options and means of unsettling any opponent in the game with last night being a great example of this. Inter used to be static – getting the ball to Ibrahimovic was the main way they would attack. Now, Mourinho relies on movement and has a number of players who could win games on their own, not just one.

The Portuguese tactician speaks of England in glowing terms. He has long been linked as the eventual successor to Sir Alex Ferguson at Old Trafford. United fans are split on the Special One – some are keen on seeing his pragmatic style grace their beloved Reds, whereas others believe that Mourinho’s footballing style is not in line with that in the heritage of United. What is for sure is that Ferguson does not appear ready to step aside any time soon. So, with Mourinho potentially on the way out of Inter – where does he go next?

Well, many believe that Mourinho might find himself in the hotseat at either Liverpool or Manchester City. Liverpool obviously has a rich history, but Manchester City have the money to back Mourinho’s vision. Mourinho has succeeded before in building a team up which already had some quality foundations. Liverpool would represent a tougher challenge given the financial constraints of the Merseyside giants. Furthermore, it is not as if he would walk into Anfield with a squad capable of challenging the elite in England and Europe – the squad needs a drastic overhaul to fit Mourinho’s style.

In fact, I would not be surprised if one of the following two scenarios actually play out. Either Mourinho will honour his contract to Inter and leave at the end of the 2010/11 season, maybe to take over at Old Trafford if something should go wrong next season at United. Or, and perhaps more intriguingly, there is a good chance that Fiorentino Perez might dispose of current Real Madrid boss Manuel Pellegrini and bring in the Special One. At Madrid, Mourinho would have a pretty good squad of players and the opportunity to invest in it further. The only question mark would be his style. Fabio Capello won La Liga with Real Madrid but departed, partly because the Italian’s winning method was not aesthetically pleasing for the Real faithful. However, if Mourinho’s Inter was to progress far in this season’s Champions League and secure the domestic title, I believe he might stay on and have another crack at Europe’s top competition.

The rest of the Champions League results in brief:

CSKA 1 – 1 Sevilla : I got one right! Sevilla will be quite pleased to come away with a draw, having taken the lead through Alvaro Negredo. It is still a decent result for CSKA, given their league season has not yet begun, so Mark Gonzalez’s scorching equaliser gives them some chance in the return leg.

Olympiakos 0 – 1 Bordeaux: The Champions League’s best defence continued their hot streak, keeping out their Greek hosts and grabbing a goal from centre-back Michael Ciani, who headed home after a Yoann Gourcuff free-kick. Olympiakos did make chances and the introduction of substitute Matt Derbyshire seemed to galvanise the hosts, but Bordeaux held on for their sixth straight Champions League win and are now overwhelming favourites to progress.

Stuttgart 1 – 1 Barcelona: My player of the weekend, Cacau, carried on his goal-scoring run, giving the hosts a shock lead before Ibrahimovic equalised and in the process scored his first ever knockout stage goal in the competition. Stuttgart were very good in the first half and Victor Valdes kept the holders in the tie with a string of saves. While Lionel Messi did hit the post, Barcelona were second best for a lot of the game, fielding a side that was decimated by injuries. For example, Carles Puyol was filling in at right-back as Dani Alves is injured, and the club captain was tormented by Cristian Molinaro. However, Barcelona drew 1-1 at Lyon last season in the last 16 and then destroyed them 5-2 at the Camp Nou. I fear Stuttgart may suffer a similar fate.