Inter coach Jose Mourinho has explained the reason behind his decision to replace teenage striker Mario Balotelli during yesterday’s 1-0 win over Fiorentina in the Coppa Italia semi-final first leg.

The Italy under-21 star was taken off midway through the second half and vented his anger at the Portuguese before walking straight down the San Siro tunnel.

“He made a mistake,” roared the ‘Special One’ on Rai TV. “He didn’t run back for a corner-kick. When he acts like that, he gets on my nerves.

“He is not doing what I ask of him. In my tactics, players must always defend, even though they have a problem or got injured or even lost their contact lens.

“They must defend first and then focus on other issues.”

Brazilian winger Amantino Mancini completed a loan switch from Inter to Milan on transfer deadline day and said he had wasted six months of his career after Mourinho refused to let him leave in the summer.

But the ex-Chelsea manager was in no mood to take the bait, and simply commented: “I’m very very happy that he joined Milan…”