Sunday, August 1, 2010

Jose Mourinho's Inter have come under fire for rough tactics following their 1-1 draw with Roma.

The Serie A champions levelled through Samuel Eto’o at the start of the second half after Mirko Vucinic put the visitors ahead early on at the San Siro Stadium. And Roma boss Claudio Ranieri hit out at Inter’s strong-arm tactics after midfielder Daniele De Rossi needed surgery on a fractured cheekbone following a first-half clash with Patrick Vieira.

Ranieri said: “They committed twice as many fouls as us and maybe they should have been pulled up more. It was systematic. “Every time we tried to counter-attack and they were in difficulty they brought us down.

“The referee has to reward the team that tries to play football. De Rossi needs an operation and it’s thanks to Vieira. He often goes up with his elbows high.”

But Ranieri denied any claims that he was having a go at opposite number Mourinho, despite the pair regularly trading blows in the Italian papers.

Ranieri was replaced by the Portuguese coach at Chelsea, and the pair had their issues when the 58-year-old was in charge at Juventus last season.

But Ranieri said: “He’s a great communicator. He turns things around and he’s always right.

“But it’s not true I don’t like him. It’s fun.”

Mourinho admitted his side had been poor after their lead was cut to five points. But he could not resist signing off with a parting shot at Ranieri, Roma and the match officials after his attacking tactics failed.

Mourinho, who started with four in attack, said: “The match was close to terrible. All three teams were close to terrible. One team tried to win, but didn’t do enough to. Another side did not want to win.

“As for the third team - it was an easy match to officiate, four or five blows of the whistle would have been enough, but he blew up 40 or 50 times.”