ITALIAN SERIA A Inter Milan 1 Juventus 0:IN THE battle of Chelsea old boys, it was the "Special One", José Mourinho, who emerged victorious at the San Siro on Saturday night when his Inter Milan side defeated Claudio Ranieri's Juventus 1-0 to remain top of Serie A, after a tense, ultra-competitive quality game.
Even if Inter won by the minimum distance, this was an emphatic victory for Inter's Portuguese coach and one which prompted the ever-honest Ranieri to admit afterwards that the best team had won.
One month ago, after Inter's comprehensive 4-0 away win over AS Roma, we suggested that Mourinho's side already risked finding itself in a one-horse race for the Italian title. After watching this impressive performance, that sensation was reinforced even if, in the meantime, eternal city rivals, second-placed AC Milan, have begun to play some good football.
Two considerations emerge from Saturday night. Firstly, the Mourinho effect is clearly beginning to make itself felt with the team that, even before his arrival this summer, was already the strongest in the land. Secondly, the Italian title contest now seems guaranteed to be an internal Milan city contest with such as Roma, Juventus, Fiorentina and Udinese in the role of interested bystanders. Remember that, so far, the only serious setback encountered by Mourinho in Italy was his 1-0 derby defeat by AC Milan at the end of September.
Not for the first time, Mourinho took critics by surprise on Saturday night opting to start with "bad boy" Brazilian striker Adriano, alongside Swede Zlatan Ibrahimovic, in attack. For much of the last month, an infuriated Mourinho had dropped Adriano after the Brazilian had turned up late for training, clearly the worse for wear after a late night out on the town.
Against the robust Juventus central defensive pair of Nicola Legrottaglie and Giorgio Chiellini, Mourinho obviously reasoned that he required two big "bruisers" up front. Even if Adriano did not score, the move proved successful since between them the two Inter strikers caused a whole hatful of problems for the Juventus defence.
The "Old Lady" Juve had come into this game on the back of seven straight Serie A and Champions League wins. Accordingly, Ranieri stuck to methods tried and true. His 4-4-2 lineout, with a defence which makes much of the offside trap, relied heavily on the midfield craft of Malian Mohammed Sissoko and veteran Czech Pavel Nedved in the hope that they might be able create something for Alessandro Del Piero and Brazilian Amauri up front.
It was not to be. Inter took such a determined hold of the game that Juventus managed only one clear chance all night, a late header from Del Piero. Inter, on other hand, saw Serb Dejan Stankovic and then Ibrahimovic miss chances when sent through with only Austrian goalkeeper Alex Manninger to beat before they eventually won the match with a 73rd-minute goal from Ghanaian Sully Muntari.
Again it was the Adriano-Ibrahimovic partnership which unravelled the tight Juventus defence with both of them contesting a high ball in the Juventus penalty area. The ball fell to Ibrahimovic who immediately shot at goal, completely missing the target but fortuitously finding Muntari who inelegantly bungled his shot home even as Manninger protested for an inexistent offside.
Speaking after the game, an obviously delighted Mourinho commented: "I don't know if this was our best performance of the season but, for sure, you have to do something special to beat this Juventus and we did more than that because they only had one shot on goal all night."
A buoyant Inter now prepare for tomorrow night's Champions League tie at home to Greek side Panathinaikos. Inter are currently three points clear of Cypriot side Anorthosis on top of Group B. Juventus, who are four points clear of Real Madrid on top of Group H, are away to Zenit St Petersburg, also tomorrow night.
