Mourinho arrived at Stamford Bridge after Ranieri's departure and immediately declared himself 'the Special One'.

The Portuguese delivered two Premier League titles for the Blues and on Wednesday beat Ranieri's Roma in the Coppa Italia final.

It was the first trophy in what could be a treble-winning season for Mourinho's side.

They face Chievo tomorrow and could clinch their second silverware of the week in Serie A should results go their way.

Roma are their nearest challenges and Mourinho appears to have invested in mind games with Ranieri as the race for the Scudetto reaches its conclusion.

Mourinho said on Inter's official website, www.inter.it: "I have never said I'm a phenomenon, but it's certainly not my fault if, when I arrived at Chelsea in 2004 and asked why they were changing Ranieri, they replied that they wanted to win and that it would never have happened with him. I'm not to blame for this."

Mourinho also criticised Ranieri's tactics during the Coppa Italia final.

He added: "Ranieri forgot that his players are champions, not children."