Serie A - Mourinho: We could have played better

Eurosport - Sun, 30 Aug 15:54:00 2009

Internazionale coach Jose Mourinho lived up to his reputation as a difficult man to please by saying his side could have played even better in their 4-0 demolition of AC Milan.

FOOTBALL SERIE A MILAN INTER MOURINHO LEONARDO - 0

Thiago Motta, Diego Milito, Maicon and Dejan Stankovic netted for the champions in their second Serie A outing of the season, with Gennaro Gattuso being sent off in the first half for their demoralised derby rivals.

"It is hard to better the result but yes we can play better," he said after the 'home' Milan fans at a packed San Siro went home in near silence.

"Today was fantastic at every level but I still have some question marks which is why we are a top team."

The performance was a marked improvement on last weekend's 1-1 home draw with promoted Bari with new signings Milito and Samuel Eto'o linking up well and Dutch debutant Wesley Sneijder contributing as playmaker.

"Lets go forward with a balanced view, I didn't cry after the Bari game and I won't go mad now. When we win I stay with my feet on the ground," Mourinho said, agreeing it was a risk to give Sneijder a debut a day after he joined from Real Madrid.

"He is a great player, physically strong. As we won, Mourinho is great, if we lost Mourinho was stupid."

Rookie Milan boss Leonardo, whose side looked bright in last weekend's 2-1 win at Siena, kept a level head like Mourinho and refused to blame any of his players for the defeat.

Inter scored their first three in the last 16 minutes of the first half during which time an injured Gattuso was sent off having earlier asked to be substituted, only to stay on the field because Clarence Seedorf was not ready.

"I think the first half hour we did OK, we were equal, we had some chances. In my opinion we were better than Inter at the start but the first goal changed things," the Brazilian said.

"There was five minutes where lots happened and it was key to the match. We can't come up with a definition of where we are. We've played two matches and done lots of things positively."

Milan have been frugal in the transfer market despite selling Kaka to Real Madrid but Leonardo ruled out more buys.

A Milan spokesman said Gattuso had suffered an ankle injury and could be out for two weeks, which would make him unavailable for Italy's upcoming World Cup qualifiers.

Reuters

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  1. English football is not better than serie a or liga. I­ would love to see other teams plyng in serie a to see­ how they perform.... It's a different style of­ football, I like to watch premier league and la liga,­ but I still think serie a remains the more difficult­ one! Don't forget that premier league started to­ improve thanks to foreign players and managers, and do­ not forget that your national tema is finally playng­ football thanks to Capello!

    From Raffaello, on Mon 31 Aug 7:47AM

  2. la liga isn't a 2 team league ... that season there­ was purely barca ... there is such a thing as a bad­ season ... la liga is usually a 5 team race incuding­ barca, real , sevilla, valencia and villareal , and it­ is jus plain stupid to say that it is purely good­ weather and money that bring players to la liga ...­ forgetting man city are as bad as real just real has a­ better reputation therefore appeal to more players than­ city ... if la liga has no quality explain why spain­ won the european championships and excuse me who makes­ the premiership .... a mixture of international players­ ... if it was purely english players the league would­ be @#$%e mate

    From craig_walker02, on Sun 30 Aug 7:00PM
  3. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    money and weather take players to la liga, not quality.­ its a 2 team league an mediocre like italy, france,­ scotland, holland, germany etc. an barca won because­ buefa an fifa cannot or will not allow the mighty­ english to dominate more than we already are in champs­ league by fixing draws. a good attack wins la liga,­ thats why real madrid have bought that way.

    From foyice3, on Sun 30 Aug 6:26PM

  4. the mighty liverpool who lost to chelsea who lost to­ barca...still,barca the best...barca in which­ league???la liga!!!!!!!

    From eevernc, on Sun 30 Aug 4:55PM

  5. madrid will lose again to barca you muppet. full of­ prima donners who love themselves more than football.­ an inter are no good, only mourinho is amazing. come to­ a much bigger club, in a much better league, the mighty­ liverpool. serie a is pathetic, so is la liga. money an­ weather why players go there, premiership to tough for­ the foreign fairies

    From foyice3, on Sun 30 Aug 2:16PM

  6. Im so sorry for the Great Club of AC Milan, but more­ for

    there fans, they deserve better than this,­ better than Leonardo

    , and more than a Huntelaar­ calibr strikers...Look what Madrid

    have done, they­ dont have home grown superstars, so ? so they

    spend­ money and buy players, they return the money which­ comes from the funs back to the

    fans, in the way of­ a good players, success and enjoyable game....take an
    ­ example from MADRID
    Halla MADRID!!!!!!

    From artakjan2001, on Sun 30 Aug 11:54AM
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