The Italian title race is now much more than the formality that it was during the last few years under Roberto Mancini’s tenure at Inter Milan. A change in coaching at the Nerazzurri saw a different approach. Initially there was a love-in with Jose Mourinho, whose personality wooed the Italian press. Then came the comparisons to the original ‘Special One’ and Inter legend Helenio Herrera. After a debut draw away to Sampdoria and a couple of narrow victories, the Milan derby had come along as a major test of Mourinho’s credentials.

In the red half of Milan, fans were calling for the sacking of Carlo Ancelotti, after a 2-1 home defeat to promoted Bologna, once the favourite of Benito Mussolini. The feelings that Ancelotti’s reign had come to an end were intensified after a 2-0 defeat away to Genoa. The new signings were criticised, especially the multi-million pound signing of Ronaldinho, who was widely labelled as ‘past his best’ and ‘burnt out’. A 4-1 thrashing of the impressive Lazio, headed by Mauro Zarate’s goal-scoring exploits did much to remove the critics, as did an away win at Reggina.

AC Milan, by now unimaginatively dubbed ‘Brazilian Milan’, defeated their fierce rivals with an assured Ronaldinho-inspired performance, with the playmaker heading home the winner. Milan’s pressing game and passing patterns stifled Mourinho’s tactics. The former Barcelona attacker seemed to extinguish the doubters by a performance based more on technique than movement. As Tostao predicted, the Brazilian has indeed retreated to a passing and creative role, rather than the goal-scoring position many envisaged him to play in.

However, the key factor at Milan has been the signing of younger players, giving a better link between the midfield and the attack, which so often failed to link up last season. A physical presence in Marco Borriello, who plundered 19 goals for Genoa last season, has allowed Ronaldinho and Kaka to wreak havoc in the spaces behind. Mathieu Flamini has actually been criticised for being almost ‘too aggressive’ and energetic for Italian liking, but his acting as a double shield during some games with Gattuso has meant most midfield battles have been won.

The idea of Milan as a family club has been mooted for decades. Rather than signing younger, promising players, AC elected to re-sign Shevchenko, a player who nowadays can barely run and seems to have been damaged to irreparability after a short stint at Chelsea. Elsewhere, 26 year old ‘promising young talent’ Luca Antonini was fully re-signed by the club, after being loaned out to the bottom-feeders of Italian football for three years before entering a co-ownership with Empoli in 2007. Abbiati was another example of this policy.

A Milan defence is not Zambrotta, Senderos, Favalli and Antonini. Buying Zambrotta from Barcelona, after the World Cup winner failed in Spain was one more example of signing of aging players, when a younger alternative is always present. Bringing in mediocrity as short term solutions to long-standing problems such as the defence is yet another criticism of Ancelotti. Senderos has barely been played by Milan this year; perhaps the coaching staff, that has seen Baresi Maldini and Nesta pass through the Milanello training ground, realised that the Swiss defender is not Milan quality.

Meanwhile at Inter, Jose Mourinho revealed that he wasn’t coping with the media pressure in an outburst at the Italian papers. The Portuguese tactician then revealed his total lack of understanding about the English media.  

“In England there are no sports papers, just two pages in each newspaper every day and on Monday a supplement of six or seven pages.

 There is Sky Sports who talk about football a bit every day, but nothing more than that. After matches there is a flash interview lasting one minute and then a press conference for five minutes.”

There are a few footballer newspapers in England, but these aren’t well known, while every national newspaper has football taking up the majority of the sports pages. And the Sky Sports hype machine is smitten with the game, hence paying billions of pounds to show live coverage. Perhaps the English press were infatuated with the charm and image of Mourinho than anything else. It appears that the Italian papers saw through the image.

Coupled with his frustration, Mourinho also burnt a large hole in the wallet of owner Massimo Moratti.  The big money buy in Quaresma initially had the fans purring. After all, they had the heir apparent to Luis Figo. Yet, after he strolled his way through a number of key games, with the occasional outside-of-the-boot cross, the fans realised that Quaresma was nothing more than the show pony that cynics had labelled him out as.

Despite the below average showings from the winger, it seems he is immune from criticism from his manager. The signing of Mancini was so advanced that it couldn’t really be cancelled, and Muntari, despite being most impressive of the new players, wasn’t second choice behind Frank Lampard, who declared his undying love for Chelsea after receiving a new contract at £150,000 per week. Then recently, in the build-up to the unimaginatively titled ‘Derby of Italy’, Mourinho decided to have a dig at his Chelsea predecessor and current Juventus manager Claudio Ranieri.

“He’s won nothing and how old is he, 70?”

And that was the worst of the insults. Yet a comprehensive 0-4 thrashing of Roma in the Stadio Olimpico, along with an assured 1-0 defeat of Juve, has won Mourinho some breathing space. Meanwhile, Ranieri has continued the renaissance of Juve which Didier Deschamps began in Serie B at Rimini a few years ago. Smart, experienced signings such as Amauri and the gradual integration of the younger players, such as the sensational Sebastian Giovinco has seen Juve reclaim their status as a European giant.

The renaissance of Alessandro Del Piero, who has scored 4 goals in the Champions League this year (all of them wonderful strikes), and was top scorer in the league last year, is a key factor in propelling Juve to the top. The fans were reportedly unhappy at the plethora of defensive midfielders in the side, but Sissoko, Poulsen amongst others have been vital this season and will continue to do so. The lack of an attacking enforcer now Pavel Nedved is aging has provided a question that Ranieri must answer. Giovinco can fill in, but in terms of central midfield another attacking player must be found, with Tiago injured for approximately a month.

The former Lyon player was set to leave at the start of the season, but rejected a loan offer from Everton. He decided to lock Juventus President Giovanni Cobolli Gigli in a toilet out of frustration at his treatment at the club. Perhaps it was the catalyst for his improved performances in the midfield this season. Even with his injury, Juventus continue to keep in touch with the two Milan sides, with a 4-0 win over Reggina. The return of Trezeguet from injury will be a huge boost during the title run-in.

In terms of Champions League and UEFA Cup performances, Internazionale lost 0-1 but still qualified, in a game won in an opportunistic manner by Panathinaikos. Will Europe prove to be a brick wall that Inter are unable to climb over once more? Juventus showed why they are a huge threat in this season’s competition with a great performance in Russia against Zenit who seemed intent on shooting themselves in the foot by wasted a plethora of chances per game.

As for Milan, a defeat to Arsenal in the Champions League last year, followed by a 5-0 thrashing at the hands of Chelsea and a 1-0 loss to Manchester City in pre-season, reiterated that English teams haven’t been AC’s favourite opposition in recent years. And they had a scare in a fast-paced game at Fratton Park. The defensive frailties were evident, with Senderos and Favalli failing to pick up Kaboul for the first and then playing the offside trap as it is done in the schoolyard allowing the mesmerising Kanu to fire home. But a wonderful Ronaldinho free-kick and a fine piece of control and finish from the 35 year old Inzaghi, who now has 65 European club goals, levelled the game in injury time.

Juventus and the two Milan sides will be at the top of the table come May, but the surprise packages in the youthful Napoli and the Zarate-inspired Lazio could spring a surprise. Yes, Mourinho’s first year in Italy is looking very lively indeed.

Update: At the time of writing, AC Milan are losing 2-0 away to Palermo.