The elimination of Chelsea in the quarter final of the Champions League has swept away the embarrassment of losing the Premier League in the 45 year knockout. In the last eight matches, the soft persimmon of CSKA Moscow was drawn. The morale of Inter Milan is extremely high. In the weekend away game against Palermo, Jose Mourinho discharged a semi main team and still won 3-1 easily.
However, the spirit is not omnipotent. After playing Palermo, inter immediately welcomed Livorno at home in the middle of the week. Due to the fierce battle against Rome at the weekend, inter were a little distracted against Livorno, and were finally tied 1-1 by Livorno.
As Roma beat Bologna in this round, the difference between inter and second place Roma has narrowed to four points.
This is very disadvantageous for Inter, because Inter are fighting on the third front, especially in the Champions League, which has a great impact on Inter's energy.
However, Roma are only fighting in the league and the Coppa Italia, and they beat Udinese 2-0 in the first leg of the Coppa Italia semi-final, which has little influence on their campaign in the league.
Before that, Inter have won four Serie A titles, and so has Jose. But no one wants to lose the league title. Especially this season, inter are in such a good condition that they are very likely to win the first treble in Serie A history. Of course, Jose does not want to give up this good opportunity to make history.
Although it's the devil's schedule now, with two matches in a row and Rome at the end of the week, Moscow Central Army will face the challenge in the middle of the week, but the strength of Moscow Central Army is still slightly inferior after all. Jose is determined to prepare for the match with Rome and consolidate the advantage of the League first.
Roma are a bit different this season.
Before the start of the season, Roma did nothing in the transfer market. No one thought that they had a chance to win the league. Everyone thought that this season's title would be decided by the three northern giants Inter, AC Milan and Juve.
After the start of the league, Roma's performance was really low. In the first two rounds of the league, they lost to Genoa and Juve one after another. Meritorious coach Spalletti voluntarily resigned, and Ranieri, a tinker who came from Roma's youth training, became the fire coach.
At the moment, no one is optimistic about Roma. However, without any reinforcements, Ranieri used Spalletti's original team to play a wave of 20 unbeaten record, and beat AC Milan and Juve to catch up with Inter Milan's point gap to only 4 points, which makes the League champion in suspense. This is a miracle.
At the beginning of 1999, he was also van Gaal's interpreter and assistant. In half a month, Barcelona, where they were, played against Valencia led by Ranieri three times. Ranieri won three games with the score of 4-2 and 3-2.
In 2004, five years later, Ranieri is already the head coach of Chelsea. As the head coach of Porto, the Champions League champion, he acquired Russian tycoon Roman Abramovich, fired Ranieri, the tinker, and appointed mussel as the head coach of Chelsea. The madman brought chelsi to create the glory of the two consecutive titles of the Premier League, thus establishing the position of world famous coach.
In the 2008 Emirates Cup, Ranieri's Juve lost 3-0 to Hamburg. He told reporters after the game: "I'm not like Jose, I don't need to prove myself by results."
"I think what he said is right. I always ask for myself. I need the champion to confirm something. That's why I can win so many titles in my coaching career. Ranieri is a strong willed man. He doesn't need a champion
"He's nearly 70. So it's hard for him to change his mind to win the Super Cup. Yes, he's not young, but he hasn't won anything yet. I spent months learning Italian five hours a day to make sure I could communicate with the players, the media and the fans. Ranieri has been in England for five years, but it's very difficult for him to say 'good morning' and 'good afternoon'
Then, in the 12th round of the league, Inter Milan played Roma. At that time, inter were struggling for the Champions League. Jose was not in the mood to have a water fight with Ranieri. The two sides also drew 1-1 in the league.
Now, Rome has caught up the difference of points to 4 points, becoming the number one enemy for Inter Milan to win the championship. In the Italian Cup, Inter Milan and Roma are also likely to meet in the final. The grim situation has pushed two famous coaches with deep feud to the top of the wind and waves.
Belligerence is the hallmark of Jose. When they were in the Premier League, Ferguson and Arsene Wenger had their own feelings about this. Now they meet their old rivals again. It happens that their opponents in the Champions League are not so strong. Finally, Jose has provoked Ranieri.
"I went to Chelsea in 2004 to replace Ranieri, which is obviously not my fault. It's just that the team told me they want to win and Ranieri can't let that happen. If people think he's a loser at Chelsea, it's really not my fault. This season Ranieri has been trying to prove himself, he did very well, 20 unbeaten record is only 10 less than us, but I believe that Rome's unbeaten should stop here, Ranieri does not like the championship, and I am just a person who is willing to make people beautifulThe 59 year old Ranieri is very mature. Of course, he understands that Jose is provoking him and making him lose his cool, but Ranieri is not angry. He retorts: "if you deliberately create a fighting atmosphere, it's really a simple way to motivate the team. But sport is an important part of Italian society, and this is like a time bomb. I'm a sportsman and I love football. But I don't like the football like that of Jose. I'm different from him. I like to respect others. I'm willing to respect others, but he is not. Is he phenomenal? It's just a media rendering. For me, he's just a good coach and I won't add any other adjectives
Then he retorted: "if it's simple to motivate the team, is there anything simpler than Agnelli? He even let the players watch the movie "Gladiator" before the important game. The players are adults, not children. If I let my team watch "Gladiator" together before the game, they will laugh or find a doctor for me to see if I am ill. Before important games, I have to watch at least ten recent games of my opponents, hoping to find out their weaknesses. I spend more than ten hours on my computer running programs to help me with my work, which is much more complicated than watching movies. "
Ranieri said that football is not a simple game, it needs not only material, tactics, but also spirit. Jose's team is like a robot, they only know fighting, they don't know art.
In Italy, where everyone talks about tactics, the foreign coach is destined to be an outsider. He can't get support here. Almost all the media support Ranieri. They think that he is arrogant and sharp. They hope Ranieri's team can give a lesson to the madman and let him know From heaven back to earth.