I'm bored of Mourinho, says Roma's Ranieri

Roma coach Claudio Ranieri fired the latest title broadside at Inter rival Jose Mourinho yesterday, claiming he was bored of the Portuguese boss.

Roma and Inter are in the final stretch of the Serie A title race with the Milanese leading the Romans by two points ahead of today's grand finale.

And while Mourinho, who replaced Ranieri at Chelsea six years ago, has regularly taken digs at his counterpart, Ranieri has remained silent, until now.

Asked what he would like to say to Mourinho in a pre-match press conference yesterday, he responded: "I believe I would have a lot more to say about football to football people.

"But I think he holds me close to his heart seeing as he's always talking about me. He really bores me with the things he says."

Not to be outdone, Mourinho responded with a statement on Inter's official website: "What is the boredom of Ranieri? I studied and all I know is 'The Nausea' of Jean-Paul Sartre, philosopher, Nobel Prize winner but also a great football fan."

That wasn't the end of it though as a journalist asked Ranieri why he thinks Mourinho is always talking about him.

"He's afraid of me," said Ranieri jokingly.

"I don't know. Maybe he needs to create something to keep himself going. I could also say many things about him but I'm not interested in that."