Inter Coach Jose Mourinho: ‘We Would Have Won Milan Derby With Seven Men’

Ollie Irish

25th, January 2010

4 Comments

By Ollie Irish

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Quote of the day, not for the first time, goes to Inter boss Jose Mourinho, who, after his side’s 2-0 win in the Milan derby, boasted that his team would have won the match even with seven men; as it was, they ended up keeping Ronaldinho, Beckham and co. at bay with nine men, after Wesley Sneijder (midway through the first half) and then Lucio (in the last minute of normal time; Ronaldinho’s resulting penalty was saved by Julio Cesar) were sent off. Inter’s goals were scored by Diego Milito and Goran Pandev.

Jose, take it away:

“Everything was done today to try and prevent Inter from winning, but my squad is strong and we will win the Scudetto. But I will leave it at that. This is your country and your league. I am just a foreigner working here. One day, I will go and leave this problem with you.

“It was a strange game. I think we all understand that it was no coincidence that he [the referee] showed the red card to [Wesley] Sneijder. I have realised that they are not going to allow us to wrap this title up. But we were perfect. We would have won this game even with seven men. Maybe with six we would have struggled, but we would have won with seven.”

“Maybe with six we would have struggled.” Ha, that is classic Mourinho black humour right there, with a generous dollop of paranoia too. If you think they’re out to get you… they probably are.

However, paranoia aside, it seems no amount of dubious decisions – Sneijder’s red card was harsh – can prevent Inter from winning its fifth straight title, and its second under The Special One. However, as good as Inter have been, its rivals have been very poor.

Photos of Inter’s derby win:

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AC Milan's Ronaldinho and Inter Milan's Javier Zanetti battle for the ball