APPIANO GENTILE - José Mourinho spoke on Inter Channel after this morning's training session and ahead of the Nerazzurri's departure for Munich and the first leg of their pre-season tour of Europe.

Speaking exclusively to Inter's TV station, the Portuguese coach chatted about the progress made so far, the upcoming matches against Bayern Munich, Seville and Ajax, the condition of his squad, and the recent declarations made by Juventus coach Claudio Ranieri...

This is what he had to say:

You are at the start of a week of European friendlies of a certain importance. You face Bayern, Seville and Ajax, and begin to breathe European football.
"I like this. It's important to play hard matches now. Playing friendlies and easily winning them 6-0 is of no use. It will certainly be hard to play in Munich against a team that wants to win the cup dedicated to Franz Beckenbauer."

We face Seville, who won the Moscow trophy against Milan, Chelsea and Lokomotiv. We then play against Ajax, and in Lisbon we will face Benfica in the trophy dedicated to Eusebio, and they will certainly want to win that.
"They will be difficult matches and they will help the younger players gain experience, but we are focusing on improving all the time and you can't do that if you don't play difficult matches."

You risk cutting a poor figure in these matches because you face teams who are further ahead in their preparation...
"First of all, I want to talk about us. I don't understand why the others talk so much about us and don't like talking the other teams. Bayern have played their first match of the season in the Super Cup and in a few days they will start the championship, so it will certainly be hard against them. But I have experience, I have spoken with Moratti and Marco Branca, and it's everyone's opinion that it's not important to be summer champions or transfer market champions. For us, the important thing is to play. A small example: a player like Santon has the chance of playing against Bayern or against Ajax in Amsterdam. I think that for his growth as a player it's better than playing twenty matches for the Primavera team."

Mourinho doesn't like talking about the others, but the others talk about Mourinho. Have you read the declarations of Juventus coach Claudio Ranieri?
"I'm in Italy to work, not for wars of words, and I'm here to do the best I can for Inter so I really want to forget about the work of the others. But Claudio Ranieri is right in what he says. I'm very demanding on myself. I need to win to be happy, to be sure that everything is going well, and this is why I have won a lot in my career. He said that winning is not important for him. This mentality might explain why at his age he has won a Super Cup, a small cup. He has never won any important trophies. Maybe he needs to change his mentality, but perhaps he's too old to do so."

What Inter will we see in these upcoming games? There's still an emergency in defence, but the positive note is Ibrahimovic's return to full training...
"First of all I want to say that Ibrahimovic trained with the squad again today for the entire session, and this shows me what a special player we have. For me it's an extra motivation to be able help Ibrahimovic do something incredible in his career. A lot is said about Kaka, who I admire greatly, because he has won a Ballon d'Or. And they always say a lot about Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. All these players have great potential, but by working with Zlatan day after day I have had confirmation of what a very special player for Inter he is. Also, Cordoba played the practice match with the team for the first time today (since returning from injury) and training concluded with his goal. When I saw him score I said, 'Okay, training went well'. The Inter in the upcoming matches will be a team that wants to improve, a team that has an experienced coach who repeats that he doesn't want to be summer champions. So there are zero risks. Julio Cesar won't play tomorrow because he has a small muscular problem, like Rivas, Ibra and Cordoba."

So tomorrow evening we might see Esteban Cambiasso play in defence again, or a youngster with Nicolas Burdisso.
"Burdisso will play with Cambiasso tomorrow and after that Rivas will play one of the matches in Amsterdam and the youngster Mei will definitely play one."

Bayern will also have to make do without many of their top players. Klinsmann and Mourinho go into this clash as national champions.
"It's not exactly the same situation. It's a bit different because I won everything before coming to Inter. Klinsmann is a young coach at the start of his career at club level and he needs to win, but I do too because I am very demanding on myself. Jurgen has been working with his team for four to five weeks and me since 18 July. Bayern recently lost the German Super Cup so he'll want to prepare well and make a winning start to the Bundesliga. They won't have Toni and Ribery but they have many other excellent players. They are a beautiful team."

So we're likely to see Muntari play again...
"His insertion wasn't difficult because he has three weeks of training with Portsmouth behind him. He has had a few difficulties because of the many trips made during his transfer, but he played 45 top-quality minutes in the Tim Trophy. We have worked on tactics with him for the whole week. It's important for him to feel at ease in midfield and I think the position he was tried out in is good for him. It's suited to his characteristics. On the left he will have more freedom to play."

It was said that Inter won't bring in any more new players, but according to the newspapers a defender could arrive due to the numerous injuries.
"We'll have to think hard. Our situation at the moment is this: five players will be excluded from the Champions League list. That number would become six if we decide to buy a defender as cover for the many who are injured. This would be an impossible situation for a team like ours with quality players who want to play in the Champions League, so we have to think hard. Cordoba, Chivu and Rivas are progressively recovering. We think they're unlikely to play in the Super Cup and the first league match against Sampdoria, but then there will be the break so we will have more days available. We think Chivu and Cordoba will be back for the second league match or for the first Champions League fixture. If everything goes like this, why intervene on the transfer market?"

So now you will leave for Germany and Holland...
"We can't know the results now, but they don't count. We face some difficult matches and we will have three days to work well in Amsterdam, where I think we will find a fresher climate. We have to work as a group from a human point of view as well, so being together for a week will also be important for our internal relations."