AC Milan midfielder Clarence Seedorf has leapt to Jose Mourinho's defence, claiming the Inter Milan coach is good for Italian football.
Mourinho's honeymoon period in charge of Inter appears to be well and truly over as he continues to be criticised by the Italian press despite his team currently sitting pretty at the top of the Serie A standings.
The former Chelsea coach has sparked controversy since his arrival in the summer, but Seedorf believes it is all to the benefit of his players.
"Mourinho has brought life into Italian football," the Dutchman told Sky Sports News. "I think he's a talented person with a lot of personality.
意大利天空台采访，西多夫：
“魔力鸟把生活带进了意大利足球，我认为他是富有个性，富有才干的人。”
"He has a smart way of dealing with the press and keeping pressure off the team.
他有一套聪明敏捷的，对付媒体的方式，让外界压力在球队之外。
"In Italy every day they write and talk about football for hours and hours so personalities like him are always going to cause a lot of discussion."
With things turning sour for Mourinho, the Inter coach has been linked with a return to the Premier League at Manchester City.
媒体说魔力鸟要飞回英超，去曼城
Seedorf claims that Italian journalists should take a long look at themselves before jumping on the anti-Mourinho bandwagon.
"I think in Italy we have to improve also our way of reporting and our way of approaching conversations with coaches and players," he continued.
我觉得意大利媒体必须要改善新闻报道的方式，以及他们在和球员、教练近距离采访时的方式。
"In England there is more quality in the questions, more depth and less assumption by everyone that the journalist knows everything.
在英格兰，人家的问题更有水平，更有深度，很少臆测。
"You have to criticise in a fair way not because you like or don't like someone and a lot of times that's generally the case with what's happening with Mourinho.
"When people like or don't like him their way of questioning changes and Mourinho has the sensibilities to understand and fight back.
喜欢他或者不喜欢他的人所提问的方式是不同的，魔力鸟那么聪明当然明白，肯定会回击。
"It's good for the team that they're focusing on him so I think the players are happy.
这对球队好，他们媒体都盯着他一个人，球员们很爽。
"Mourinho likes being controversial sometimes and I think it's exciting."
魔力鸟有时喜欢成为争论人物，我觉得这非常爽
"They're talking about things that are not relevant," he added. "I think hey should criticise the game and not compare the two because it is always the same story and then you have to talk about (Inter president Massimo) Moratti and why he sent Mancini away in the first place.
"If he did such a great job then why was he sent away, that would be my question as a journalist, not comparing Mourinho and Mancini.
"Mancini did his job, he was sent away for some reason and now they have to criticise Mourinho on what he is doing and not looking at the past."
