He was lost to football for a while, but Jose Mourinho never really went away. Time to reflect can be good for cleansing the soul, but time to ponder has not dispelled his urge to displease. Arrogant, and artful. The Special One, and the scheming one. A stylish, waltzing one-man drama of a football manager, who tends to overshadow the sides he coaches. A man as much at one with the Milanese emotions dripping from the giant chandeliers of Inter's San Siro as he was at odds with the Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich in his final days in London a year or so ago. Welcome back to football's front line, Jose. A first home game beating the smallish Catania 2-1 provided him with a first chance to aggravate. He joyously ran with the moment. Walter Zenga played 473 games for Inter, won 58 Italian caps and lifted the Uefa Cup. He has also joins a vexed list of coaches to be verbally bludgeoned by Mourinho. Full of tactics in the dressing room, and ring craft in the press conference room. Not so much a Portuguese Man o'War, as a man thriving at the heart of a war of words. Zenga is a modern-day giant of a club that turned 100 this year. He played with Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and Giuseppe Bergomi in some worthy years for Inter, but Mourinho tends to give short shrift to reputations, whether or not they were earned representing the side he now manages. A barmy night in Milan ended up with a red card being brandished for the Inter player Sulley Muntari for swiping at Giacomo Tedesco around the halfway mark, players scuffling at half-time and Mourinho scratching at Zenga at full-time. The game was a sideshow as Mourinho deliciously dangled a hook for Zenga to bite on. He snaffled it up with paws that used to keep out opposing strikers. In Sicily, Fabrizio Miccoli scored twice to help Palermo to a 3-1 win over Roma but the real fanfare in Italy was reserved for Mourinho, who continues to be a real hoot for watching neutrals. Catania opened courtesy of Gianvito Plasmati's 42nd-minute header. Ricardo Quaresema, on his debut, scored the equaliser seconds later from a deflected effort via Giuseppe Mascara. The Catania defender Christian Terlizzi scored an unfortunate own goal in the 48th minute as Inter completed their first league win of the season. It prompted differing views. "Catania played their game, although the right result would have been 3-1, 4-1 or 5-1 to us," said Mourinho. "I was not tense, not even in the first half. I try to be relaxed when I'm on the bench." Start as you mean to go on. Mourinho continued: "I heard Zenga talk during the week and he seemed like he wanted to come here to win, but then he didn't." Sir Alex Ferguson, Arsene Wenger and Martin O'Neill, of course, have all been doused by his brickbats over the years. Zenga was always likely to be fair game. He might be creaky having last flung his frame around over over a decade ago, but he probably never envisaged sampling as much action in Milan 14 years after he last donned a keeper's jersey for Inter. "I'd say that is a definite exaggeration, as Inter's three real chances only came in the last five minutes of the match," replied Zenga. "So Mourinho saying Inter deserved to win 5-1 is really over the top. However, I will stay in my little patch of grass and not cause trouble." Football may have been lost without Mourinho, but he never really went away. dkane@thenational.ae
Inter 2-1 Catania Palermo 3-1 Roma