Mourinho plays down Balotelli spat

The Portuguese boss criticised his errant young striker after the game for not putting the team's needs before his own.

Inter Milan coach Jose Mourinho on Saturday dismissed his midweek spat with teenage striker Mario Balotelli, saying there was nothing to talk about.

Mourinho hauled Balotelli off midway through the second half of their 1-0 Coppa Italia, semi-final, first-leg victory over Fiorentina on Wednesday after the forward failed to get back and defend when instructed too by his coach.

The Portuguese boss then criticised his errant young striker after the game for not putting the team's needs before his own -- Balotelli considered himself to be injured at the time.

That sparked speculation in the press that one or other would have to leave Inter as Mourinho has oft berated his player for his attitude.

But the former Chelsea manager said there was nothing to discuss.

"I'm not bothered what the press thinks about our relationship. I liked what Mario did against Chievo, AC Milan, Juventus and also against Fiorentina, even though a perfect player is one who forgets about his lost contact lens when his team is in trouble," said Mourinho.

"Jokingly I said he should even forget about it if he loses an eye. But there's no Balotelli case and he's part of the squad as per usual (this weekend).

"Against Fiorentina, at a certain point I decided to settle for the 1-0 and take off a forward.

"(Goran) Pandev had just come on, (Diego) Milito is Milito and I opted for Balotelli, also because he had just shown me that he wasn't prepared to suffer right up to the last minute."

Mourinho, whose side sit eight points clear at the top of the table ahead of Sunday's visit of Cagliari, was in relaxed mood, even joking about a comment he'd made the day before about neurons.

"I went to pick up by son who was playing with two friends and their parents thanked me because their children of seven-eight years went to ask them what a neuron was.

"I consdier that a contribution to culture."