The anger builds in Jose Mourinho

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Looking back, perhaps this was not the week Jose Mourinho should have taken on the Italian media.

On Sunday, just days after the Inter Milan coach had lambasted reporters, his previously unbeaten team, the defending Serie A champion, was shut out, 1-0, by rival AC Milan on a goal by Brazilian legend Ronaldinho.

There are likely to be more than a few Italian writers who will relish the turn of events, given what Mourinho had said.

The Portuguese icon is the highest-paid soccer coach in the world and was taken aback when reporters criticized him for skipping a postgame news conference in the middle of the week and then declining to be interviewed at the same time as Juventus Coach Claudio Ranieri.

The media said it all smacked of a lack of respect, causing Mourinho to get quite hot under the collar.

‘I studied Italian for five hours a day for several months to be able to communicate with you journalists [and] with the fans,’ he said, ‘and you think that I lacked respect for you?

‘And then you speak about Ranieri, who after five years in England had trouble saying good morning and good afternoon.’

Mounrinho had sent assistant coach Beppe Baresi to talk to the media. The practice of coaches sending assistants is not uncommon at other top clubs in Europe, but apparently is not popular in Milan.

Mourinho said that only Massimo Moratti, Inter’s president, could order him not to employ Baresi this way.

‘You didn’t respect Baresi,’ the coach told journalists. ‘The concept is clear. If you haven’t understood it, I can do you a drawing.’

After Sunday’s loss, the media will no doubt be drawing conclusions of their own.

-- Grahame L. Jones