Carlo Ancelotti is determined to avoid another war of words with Jose Mourinho ahead of their Champions League clash early next year.

Chelsea were paired against Mourinho's Inter Milan in yesterday's last-16 draw in Switzerland.

It paved the way for an emotional return to Stamford Bridge for the self-proclaimed 'Special One' when the second leg of their knockout tie takes place in March.

But while the tie served up the prospect of Mourinho's return to the club where he won every domestic honour as coach, it may also re-ignite a long-running feud between him and current Chelsea boss Ancelotti - already dubbed the 'Normal One'.

Since being sacked by Chelsea in September 2007, Mourinho helped Inter win the Serie A title in his first season.

They are now on course to do it again as they boast a five-point lead at the top of the table.

But the two coaches had a frosty relationship last season while Ancelotti was still in charge of AC Milan.

The latter mocked Mourinho earlier this year after he compared himself to Jesus by saying: "If Mourinho is Jesus, I am certainly not one of his apostles."

Chelsea's former manager hit back a few months later by insisting the Italian was "no friend of mine".

But Ancelotti is determined not to rekindle the antagonism between the pair in the build-up to the game.

"I think that Chelsea and Inter are two of the most important teams in Europe and it's a football game - nothing else," insisted Ancelotti.

"He's a fantastic coach. He won in Portugal, he won in England, he won in Italy. This means he is a fantastic coach.

"I want to speak about him like a coach, nothing else. I'm not able to discuss his character. That's not a problem for me. Now I'm the coach of Chelsea and he's at Inter."

The Italian even played down the fact he has won the Champions League twice as both a player and a coach while Mourinho has just one success to his name during his time at Porto.

"This is the past," insisted Ancelotti. "That's not interesting. It does not count, the past.

"I never thought that a football game is a match between coaches. I've never thought that. I want to do the best, to watch the other team and to find a weakness and work on this. But not against a fellow coach."

But there was no disguising that Ancelotti would love to heap more misery on his one-time foe from the San Siro.

It will be the first time Chelsea have played Inter in a competitive fixture, although they did beat Mourinho's side 2-0 in a pre-season friendly in America five months ago.

Mourinho will be under intense pressure to knock his former club out of the tournament for he was brought to the San Siro to win Europe's premier club competition.

He failed at the first attempt last season when they were beaten by United in the opening knockout stage.

Mourinho is now under intense scrutiny after several bust-ups with opposition coaches and, last weekend, was accused of striking a journalist.