Perfectionist Mourinho still focussed on winning

Inter Milan coach Jose Mourinho was in no mood to party despite his side having already clinched the Serie A crown ahead of their 3-0 win over Siena.

AC Milan’s 2-1 defeat at Udinese a day earlier had ensured a fourth straight scudetto crown for Inter, but that was not enough to make the Portuguese boss forget his hard-working principles.

“It was important to win, there wouldn’t have been much point to our party if we hadn’t won,” said Mourinho.

“This was a serious match, we weren’t kidding around. Our strength is that we always play very seriously.

“Even today I got angry because we still had the aim of winning the top scorer trophy, not for (Zlatan) Ibrahimovic but for the whole team — even (Mario) Balotelli had to play for Ibra.”

The big Swede did indeed score his 22nd league goal of the season in the 76th minute and is only one goal behind Bologna’s Marco Di Vaio in the Serie A goalscoring charts.

But despite his personal achievement in having his most prolific season after five years in Italy, it was captain Javier Zanetti and goalkeeper Julio Cesar who pleased Mourinho the most.

“The player who surprised me the most was Zanetti. His passport cannot be telling the truth (claiming he’s 35), it must be 10 years out, he’s incredible,” added the former Porto and Chelsea boss, who substituted Julio Cesar close to the end so the Brazilian could receive a standing ovation.

“I was happy with the affection shown to Julio Cesar, he’s a fantastic goalkeeper. I knew it before and match after match he shows what his qualities are,” said the coach.

“He works hard and plays for Inter with his heart.”

Mourinho made no mention of his new signature phrase which has been adopted with glee by Inter’s fans.

At Chelsea it was his ‘The Special One’ self-proclamation but here it was his ‘zero titoli’ (no titles) rant about AC Milan and Juventus not winning anything this season that has now been brandished on flags and banners all over the city.

“They were two great rivals, first the one, then the other, they made life difficult,” he said graciously about those two sides.

“It (his phrase) was just a method of communication without ever wishing to show a lack of respect for either club.”

Now Mourinho’s thoughts are already turned to the future and the quest for a fifth straight Serie A crown, while he already has certain transfer targets in mind, such as Genoa’s Diego Milito.

“If you win one, a second and then more titles it’s difficult and a fifth will be harder still,” he said.

“We are not very far from signing Milito, who is a striker in top form.

“We need a second striker. This year we had big problems in central midfield and we need two players there with physical strength and a different tactical ability to the players we have at the moment.

“And then a defender other than two or three in the youth team that I like a lot.”

What this suggests is that there will be a lot of movement in the Inter corridors during the close season as Mourinho had already stated during this campaign that he needs to trim his squad.

Players such as Marco Materazzi, Patrick Vieira, Nelson Rivas, Hernan Crespo and Julio Cruz are all likely to be shipped out.

Striker Adriano has already left while veteran Portuguese winger Luis Figo has announced he will leave at the end of the season.

Figo’s countryman Ricardo Quaresma may not be given another chance after his decision to go on loan to Chelsea — where he has hardly figured — in January rather than stay and fight for a place in the team.

If all of those do leave, it is possible there will be as many as four new arrivals in the summer.