Jose Mourinho admits he is ‘not happy’ looking back at some of the things he said about Claudio Ranieri, but now considers the Cagliari coach ‘a friend, who won the Special One’ in the Premier League for Leicester City.
It kicks off at the Unipol Domus at 17.00 UK time (16.00 GMT).
Mourinho famously clashed with Ranieri over the years, both when he was in charge of Chelsea and then at Inter against the veteran’s Roma.
However, after Ranieri was fired by Leicester City despite winning a shock Premier League title, it was Mou who rushed to his defence.
“He is a gentleman. I continue to say he achieved the greatest coup in the history of the Premier League. People talk about those who won it many times, but he got the Special One,” Mourinho told DAZN.
“Aside from that, when you are younger and in competition, you can do things that a few years later you think back on and are not too happy about. I think with time we got to know each other and Ranieri is one of the people I truly respect in football.
“The world of football doesn’t allow us much time to get into deep conversations, but I have great respect and admiration for him. I consider him a friend in the football world.”
Although they got back on track with wins over Frosinone in Serie A and Servette in the Europa League, the injury list continues to grow with reports Lorenzo Pellegrini will be out for a month with yet another muscular issue.
“When you lose a game the way we did in Genoa, it is very important to have a reaction. The players did that, they showed courage and calm to win two matches in a row, but at the same time we have to keep that balance in our minds after wins just like defeats.
“There is a game to play today, it is very difficult, and it is all we must focus on right now.”
The Corriere dello Sport also had a sensational claim – denied by the club – that Roma were preparing to sack Mourinho and hold talks with Hansi Flick, but the coach shrugged them off.
“There is no problem other than we are missing important players. We are missing two centre-backs and two midfielders at the same time. Smalling and Llorente simultaneously out forces us to look at things differently.
“If we lose Renato Sanches and Pellegrini, then have Cristante a little bit one area, a little bit in the other, it becomes complicated. Hopefully, after the break for international duty we will have more players available.”