Planet Sport

Inter Milan coach Jose Mourinho sat down with the Italian media and reflected on his first few months in the Serie A.

Mourinho left quite an impression on both the media and fans alike when he was unveiled as the Nerazzurri's coach in the summer. The outspoken Portuguese coach surprised journalists during the press conference, speaking fluent Italian, and even used Milanese slang with the word ‘pirla', which means ‘stupid', and had everyone present in raptures.

To be precise, Mourinho said, "Io non sono pirla," meaning 'I am not stupid', when someone asked him to talk about Chelsea star Frank Lampard. The England international was in the middle of a negotiation at the time, to join Mourinho at Inter after the two had already collaborated with much success at Stamford Bridge.

Mourinho addressed the media again recently, talking about that memorable first press conference.

"Saying that phrase was a spontaneous thing," said the Inter coach. "Nobody at the time could have imagined I would be able to speak Milanese, in fact no one expected I would speak Italian. That's why that phrase had a special effect."

"However," Mourinho joked, "I hope this doesn't backfire in the sense that after I became known as the Special One in England, in Italy I will be known as the Pirla."

Asked if the most important victory obtained by his team so far was the 1-0 win against Juventus, Mourinho replied, "We played a great game against them, but it will mean nothing if we don't win the Scudetto. I understand that for the fans it was important, but as a coach I can't think or be emotional like a fan."

Inter are the winter champions with two matches to go before the halfway mark of the Serie A season. However, their latest victory was far from convincing as they needed an offside goal by Maicon to beat Siena 2-1 away from home.