Stramaccioni talks down Mourinho comparison

7 October 2012 15:27

Inter Milan head coach Andrea Stramaccioni has laughed off any similarities between himself and former mentor Jose Mourinho.

Italian Stramaccioni hailed the Real Madrid head coach, who led Inter to the treble in 2009/10, for making football history in several countries.

Mourinho won the league and Champions League with Porto in his native Portugal, and has also guided Chelsea and Real to domestic glory in league and cup competitions.

"I've never compared myself to Mourinho, not for a second," Stramaccioni said.

"I'm a young manager trying to gain experience as fast as possible.

"The only thing that we have in common is that I'm training Inter Milan. That is the only thing I can think of.

"He has written important pages of football history in different countries, where as my experience in Serie A is limited to about 10 matches, therefore there can't be any comparison."

Inter have won their last three matches in all competitions, and a derby victory over struggling Milan would doubtless be another morale-booster, but Stramaccioni sought to play down the importance of the clash in the context of his team's campaign.

"I believe tomorrow's result will be important ... but honestly I don't believe it will change Inter Milan's season," he said.

"It can help it, but it can't change it because it's only the seventh match.

"Of course each match can represent a positive or negative turning point, but a manager should be able to give the right importance to a match and at the same time have a general view of the situation.

"Tomorrow we will surely be doing our best to win against AC Milan, but even a positive result - which would be a great result for us - can't change our season.

"We have had important performances in the last few matches and I want to see if we can do the same tomorrow after such a short time and against such an important team."