Ancelotti ignores Jose's mind games

Ancelotti ignores Jose's mind games

Published Feb. 20, 2010 8:10 a.m. ET

Mourinho, who won six trophies during his time at Stamford Bridge, including back-to-back league titles, was sacked in September 2007. Now boss at Inter, Mourinho's side take on Chelsea in the first-leg of their last-16 Champions League tie at the San Siro Stadium next Wednesday. Earlier this week Mourinho claimed that Chelsea had gone backwards since he was axed by Roman Abramovich. Mourinho and Ancelotti, former boss of AC Milan, never saw eye-to-eye during their time as opposing coaches in Italy and the feud shows no sign of thawing. But Ancelotti refuses to play Mourinho's mind games, pointing out that Chelsea never reached the Champions League final under the 'Special One'. "I think that Chelsea did a fantastic season also after Jose because Avram Grant did fantastic work here," said Ancelotti. "He got them to the final of the Champions League. Mourinho won a lot of trophies here, but the other managers also did a very good job." Mourinho insists that Ancelotti is no friend of his but the Chelsea coach is untroubled by such outbursts and admits the feeling is mutual. "This is true," said Ancelotti. "But I've never said he is my friend also. We didn't go to eat together or drink wine together. "Usually, when you go to eat and drink and drink one, two, three glasses of wine, usually you say the truth. "You can have a good relationship about this. But we didn't. I've never asked him to do this. But that is no problem. "In Italy, we don't usually have a glass of wine after games. Maybe this could be a good moment to improve our 'friendship'." Chelsea are hoping that Frank Lampard will be fit enough to face Inter. The England international missed the league game against Wolves with a virus but Ancelotti is confident he will be fit. "We have Ashley Cole out, Michael Essien out, Jose Bosingwa out. Juliano Belletti, Deco and Alex are also out. I don't know about Wednesday. Some players can recover for the Inter game, but certainly not Ashley, Bosingwa or Essien. "We will also have to wait for the results of a scan on Alex who has a problem with his knee."

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