I’m bored of Mourinho, says Ranieri

AS Roma coach Claudio Ranieri fired the latest title broadside at Inter Milan rival Jose Mourinho on Saturday claiming he was bored of the Portuguese boss.

Roma and Inter are in the final stretch of the Serie A title race with the Milanese leading the Romans by two points ahead of Sunday’s grand finale.

Inter travel to already relegated Siena knowing a win will land them a fifth straight Serie A crown while Roma are at Chievo with a clear task of needing to win and hope Inter don’t.

And while Mourinho, who replaced Ranieri at Chelsea six years ago, has regularly taken digs at his counterpart, Ranieri has remained silent, until now.

Asked what he would like to say to Mourinho in Saturday’s pre-match press conference, he responded: “I believe I would have a lot more to say about football to football people.

“But I think he holds me close to his heart seeing as he’s always talking about me. He really bores me with the things he says.”

Not to be outdone, Mourinho responded with a statement on Inter’s official website: “What is the boredom of Ranieri? I studied and all I know is ‘The Nausea’ of Jean-Paul Sartre, philosopher, Nobel Prize winner but also a great football fan.”

That wasn’t the end of it though as a journalist asked Ranieri why he thinks Mourinho is always talking about him.

“He’s afraid of me,” said Ranieri jokingly. “I don’t know. Maybe he needs to create something to keep himself going.

“I could also say many things about him but I’m not interested in that.”