Jose Mourinho has made the bizarre claim that the derby between AC Milan and Inter is not a ‘great derby’ and that Inter-Juventus is a more tense affair.
Mourinho spoke for the first time since being sacked by Roma, revealing that he was ‘hurt’ at the way things ended. The Portuguese coach won the Europa Conference League with the Italian club in 2021-22, and got them to the Europa League final last season.
However, Roma’s owners Dan and Ryan Friedkin decided to sack him in mid-January with the Giallorossi sitting ninth in the Serie A standings, with top four qualification and a return to the Champions League a clear objective for the leadership.
Mourinho spoke on a podcast with Rio Ferdinand that was released this afternoon, and in the first part he spoke about the rivalry between Real Madrid and Barcelona when he coached the former, as well as some of the battles in Italy.
“England I believe is with more discipline but the rivalries are of course very strong. In Latin countries, you can feel more the emotion of it – even on the negative side and with some aggression and violence before and after matches,” he said.
“I believe England is a much more structured nowadays, without this level of problems. I would say my times at Real Madrid, the three years were years of a huge rivalry with Barcelona.
“It was not just the cultural and historical rivalry, but also the moment. I don’t want to say the best players in the world, because of course England had incredible players but maybe in that that moment there [we had] the best Cristiano [Ronaldo], the best [Lionel] Messi, the best [Karim] Benzema, the best [Gonzalo] Higuain, the best [Andres] Iniesta, the best [Angel Di Maria] – everything was there.
“We had Barcelona, the best team in the world and Real Madrid trying to change that perspective. In the same season, league matches, Super Cup matches, cup finals, Champions League quarter-finals.
“I felt in that period the world stopped for Barca-Real. One season Barcelona wins it then Real Madrid wins it, it was beautiful.
“In Italy? Inter-Juve, more than Inter-Milan. The first derby I played, Inter against Milan, I remember clearly.
“I was in the bus and there were people together, with Milan scarves and Inter scarves. Really nice, really friendly.
“I didn’t feel it as a big, big derby. When it is Inter-Juve is when you feel that something is not going historically well between them.”
