Tag: Internazionale

How would you feel if you were Roman Abramovich after this evening’s Champions League match between Chelsea and Inter? When he disposed of Jose Mourinho just over three years ago, it was reportedly a show of player power the likes of which the English game had seldom seen before. Mourinho, however, has never quite gone away. He remains a ghost-like presence at Stamford Bridge, clever enough to know that revenge is a dish best served cold. He was coolly pragmatic about his choice of words when he left the club. The Champions League is the trophy that Abramovich really wants, but it took until the start of this season for Abramovich to work his way through Scolari, Grant and Hiddink before finding a little stability in the form of Carlo Ancelotti. Tonight, though, was the night that Mourinho took his revenge. This may just have been the first match at which the pre and post match press conferences were as eagerly anticipated as the match itself. The press love Jose Mourinho. He is as ready with a quote as Brian Clough was at the peak of his powers, yet the applecarts that he upsets are usually inconsequential ones. Sometimes he gives the impression of talking too much and saying too little. Sometimes he leans too heavily upon playing to press expectations of what he will say. Sometimes the fake...