FCBARCELONA.CAT

23.11.2009 18:20

Mourinho: "I’m not concerned if Messi plays or not"

Anna Segura

Inter Milan manager, José Mourinho, told reporters on Monday evening that he was not worried whether or not Messi plays on Tuesday night. And he claimed to have his own starting line-up more or less decided.

José Mourinho entered the press room just after 5 o’clock. Before that he had been spotted walking around the stadium dressed in an Inter tracksuit and accompanied by his assistants.

No concern over Messi

It remains unclear whether Messi will recover from his injury problems in time for the match. But Mourinho assured reporters that he was not losing any sleep over the matter. “If Messi plays or not, nothing changes”. Whether it’s Messi, Iniesta or Pedro, the Inter defender will be Chivu.

The Inter defence

Just as he did before the match in Italy, José Mourinho gave a fairly clear indication of his team. He told reporters the defence would be made up of, "Julio César, Maicon, Lucio, Samuel and Chivu".

He also admitted that his main doubt was over Sneijder.

"They’re not afraid of us"

Inter Milan come to Barcelona as group leaders while Barça are in third place and need to take the three points. But Mourinho knows FC Barcelona well and believes Guardiola’s team, “are not afraid of Inter. They know how difficult it is, they know there’s a risk but they’re confident of their ability”.

Looking forward to the match

Mourinho, who acted as assistant to both Bobby Robson and Louis Van Gaal, made no attempt to hide his desire to play this match: “It’ll be a very difficult match but I prefer playing difficult matches than one you can win 5-0”.

Grateful to Barça

After sitting on the Barça visitors’ bench with Chelsea, Mourinho has now come back to Barcelona as manager of Inter Milan: “I played six times against Barça when I was the Chelsea manager”. He also has fond memories of his time under Robson and then Van Gaal: “I’ve only got words of thanks. They were four proud years working here”.