Adriano still overweight, says Inter boss Mourinho

Troubled Inter Milan forward Adriano was told to lose weight by his coach Jose Mourinho despite scoring in the club’s 3-1 Coppa Italia win over Genoa.

Adriano played for 75 minutes, scoring just a minute before he was replaced by Sweden’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic as Inter went on to win the game in extra-time following a 1-1 draw after 90 minutes.

He had not played for a month and his lack of match sharpness showed as he missed a penalty.

The Brazilian was a surprise inclusion from the start as he has already fallen foul of strict disciplinarian Mourinho’s law several times this season, twice being excluded from first team action.

The general consensus was that Inter would try to offload the former Parma striker during the transfer window but instead Mourinho simply wants him to lose weight and get in shape.

“It’s clear that he is three or four kilos overweight and he lacks some explosiveness and confidence but if he keeps working as he is then that’s ok with me,” said the Portuguese former Chelsea and Porto boss.

“Recently he has been training consistently and not arriving late.”

Punctuality has been a big stumbling block for Adriano who has fallen foul of his coach’s wishes by turning up late or missing training several times, including turning up late at the end of the mid-season winter break and missing the first training session of 2009.