Roma boss Claudio Ranieri has surprisingly admitted to "missing" Jose Mourinho despite the running feud the pair had last season.

The Special One frequently criticised and attacked Ranieri during his two year stint at Inter Milan. Their rocky relationship hit an all-time low last season as Roma pushed Inter all the way for domestic honours - eventually falling just short to Mourinho's side.

"I do miss Mourinho," Ranieri told Corriere dello Sport.

"Italian football has lost a big personality.

"The truth is Mourinho attacked me because he feared Roma and I would respond. Rafa Benitez has a different character, he thinks more like the Italians."

Benitez has since come in to replace Mourinho who left in the summer to join Real Madrid in Spain.

Roma face Inter in the Italian Super Cup next Saturday with plenty of attacking options in Adriano, Mirko Vucinic, Francesco Totti and Julio Baptista.

"Adriano is a player who wants to regenerate and become L'Imperatore once again. He's working well and is eager to sacrifice himself for the team, so he can become that champion of a few years ago.

"Even when he's tired, he never says no and the specialised diet is progressing well. I don't care so much about how many kilos he loses, but rather that he finds the right physical fitness.

"The team welcomed him like one of the family and I'm convinced Adriano will have a great season. He can appear sad to outsiders, but he's just a quiet lad. Juan and Jeremy Menez are the same way."