Soccer
Mourinho lays into rivals
2009-03-03 20:23
Inter Milan coach Jose Mourinho courted controversy again on Tuesday when he returned fire on his Serie A rivals in a row over a contested penalty in Sunday's 3-3 draw with AS Roma.
Polemics have been flying since 18-year-old striker Mario Balotelli, who scored twice, helped league leaders Inter come back from 3-1 down by converting a penalty after going down in the area.
Roma coach Luciano Spalletti and midfielder Daniele De Rossi said after the match that Balotelli had dived and Juventus boss Claudio Ranieri, whose team trail Inter by seven points in second place, sided with them on a television show.
"I don't like intellectual prostitution. I like intellectual honesty," Mourinho told a news conference. "There has been great intellectual manipulation over the last few days. A great job has been done to manipulate public opinion.
"Over the last two days we have not talked about a Roma side with great players, lots of players I wanted to have with me, that will finish the season with zero titles.
"We have not talked about Milan, who will finish the season with zero titles. We have not talked about Juventus, who have won lots of points with refereeing mistakes.
"You cannot say it was not a penalty, you can say there is a doubt," said Mourinho, who frequently courted controversy during his three-year stint at Chelsea.
TV replays did not clearly show Balotelli making contact with a Roma player, nor did they prove he deliberately tumbled.