Mourinho refuses opportunity to end Mancini feud
CHELSEA manager Jose Mourinho refused an olive branch from old adversary and current Galatasaray boss Roberto Mancini last night, declining his offer of dinner after tonight’s Champions League last-16 second leg.
Mourinho and Manchester City’s former manager have repeatedly questioned each other’s credentials in recent years, but ahead of tonight’s reunion Mancini said – tongue in cheek – he would pay for dinner after the match should Galatasaray win.
But Mourinho, whose team go into tonight’s match with the advantage of an away goal after the first leg in Istanbul ended 1-1, has rejected the chance to cool his feud with the Italian.
“I won’t have a meal with somebody who has the same job as I do and the only thing we have in common is the fact we’re both football managers,” he said. “I have no interest. After the match I don’t do things because I win or lose. After matches, what I have in my mind to do, I do. It doesn’t matter if I win or lose.”
Midfielders Nemanja Matic and Mohammed Salah are ineligible tonight having already featured for Benfica and FC Basel respectively in the competition this season.
Left-back Ashley Cole missed training yesterday with a knee injury, but David Luiz has overcome the groin problem that kept him out of Chelsea’s last two matches.
“If you look at the result, it’s 1-1. You look at the first game, one team was better in the first half and another was better in the second, so everything is balanced,” added Mourinho.
“Normally it will be the same kind of match with the result going to the end.”