Jose is the big draw in Serie A

Photographers crowd around Jose Mourinho before Inter Milan's game at Sampdoria.

GENOA // Jose Mourinho said his side got what they deserved after he began life in Serie A at Inter Milan with a 1-1 draw away to Sampdoria. The Nerazzurri have won the Scudetto in each of the past three seasons with Roberto Mancini at the helm, but Mourinho was appointed during the summer after the Inter president Massimo Moratti lost confidence in the most successful coach he has ever appointed.

Mourinho will know he has a tough act to follow and claimed before the game he would accept a draw on his debut. And that is precisely how it ended with Gennaro Delvecchio equalising a Zlatan Ibrahimovic opener to earn Sampdoria a draw which both coaches accepted was the right outcome. "For me it's a result which fits the game," admitted Mourinho. "We did not deserve to win and it was a fair draw. That is not to say I am happy because I like to win, but I can be happy with the performance. They are a good team. They worked a lot to get a point here and made it hard for us.

"It would be easy for me to say Inter did not win because we had a bad second half, but it is fairer to say that they worked very well and gave us a very difficult game. They deserved this point." However, the Samp coach Walter Mazzarri thought his team deserved more than a draw. "If one team should have won this game, then it was us," he said. "We were not very lucky with the start, conceding with their first shot on goal and perhaps the first time our defence was not quite perfect, but that makes it even better. I said before the game that we would need all of the components to come together to beat this world class team, and then we managed to come from behind to get a draw.

"Then in the second half, we took the game to them and, like I say, if there was to be a winner, then it should have been us." Nevertheless, Mazzarri does not believe any side will be able to compete with Inter over a 38-game season. "They are still the top candidates to win the league," he said. "I would add Fiorentina as a top-drawer team with Roma and Milan, but at the moment, Inter are a touch above the rest."

In the night's other game, the Italy striker Antonio Di Natale hit an early double as Udinese beat Palermo 3-1. Mark Bresciano pulled one back for the Sicilians, but the Swiss midfielder, and Arsenal target, Gokhan Inler restored the two-goal cushion just a minute later. * PA Sport