Ancelotti plays down Mourinho rift

Carlo Ancelotti
12 April 2012

Chelsea coach Carlo Ancelotti is determined to avoid another war of words with Inter Milan boss Jose Mourinho ahead of their Champions League clash early next year.

The two coaches had a frosty relationship last season while Ancelotti was still in charge of AC Milan, but Ancelotti is determined not to rekindle the antagonism between the pair in the build-up to their last-16 encounter.

"I think that Chelsea and Inter are two of the most important teams in Europe and it's a football game - nothing else," insisted Ancelotti. "He's a fantastic coach. He won in Portugal, he won in England, he won in Italy. This means he is a fantastic coach. I want to speak about him like a coach, nothing else."

He added: "I'm not able to discuss his character. That's not a problem for me. Now I'm the coach of Chelsea and he's at Inter."

The Italian even played down the fact he has won the Champions League twice as both a player and a coach, while Mourinho has just one success to his name during his time at Porto.

"This is the past," insisted Ancelotti. "That's not interesting. It does not count, the past.

"I never thought that a football game is a match between coaches. I've never thought that. I want to do the best, to watch the other team and to find a weakness and work on this. But not against a fellow coach."

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