Tuesday, March 16, 2010

To be or not to be day, for Jose Mourinho

Jose Mourinho will lose his job at the end of this season if Inter Milan fail to progress past his former club Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in the Champions League tonight, according to an Italian news agency.

Jose Mourinho

Jose Mourinho is under pressure to deliver.

The source, close to Internationale, told Soccernet: "The Inter chairman, Moratti, bought Mourinho to win the Champions League, simple as that. If he loses at Chelsea, he is out, out at the end of the season.

"Inter are not paying him 11 million euros after tax just to win the league, they can do that all the time, but they cannot seem to get past the last-16 in the Champions League, and that's why they hired Jose Mourinho.

"If Inter fail again to make an impression in the Champions League they will need to find a manager who can, so that is what is at stake for Jose Mourinho at Chelsea. Inter are the most powerful, financially sound and strongest club in Italy. They have won the title four years in a row, three under Roberto Mancini, and should win it again, although they have had a ten-point lead whittled down to one point.

"The Italian fans, the media, and everyone in Italy do not see Jose Mourinho as 'the Special One' - far from it, in fact.

"Don't forget in Italy we have World Cup winners, Champions League winners, and they all come without all the fuss and baggage that Jose Mourinho brings with him, so we are not besotted with Jose Mourinho as you are in England."

Mourinho is in the middle of a personal feud with one of his star players, Mario Balotelli, as the source added: "He is extremely gifted on the pitch, but he is young and moody, difficult to manage, and Jose Mourinho has left him at home. They have a longstanding feud. He was asked by the Italian media why, and he replied that he will only talk about the players who are here.

"Mourinho is not liked by the media, or by the Inter fans. Mourinho says he wants to go back to England, and much depends on what happens at Chelsea."

source: espn

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