Jose Mourinho held his pre-match conference four hours before Sir Alex Ferguson which gave plenty of time to reply.

Mourinho: “Nothing will be decided in Milan. I’m expecting a situation where, in the last minute at Old Trafford, no one knows who is going through. It will go to the full 180 minutes or, probably, more.”

Fergie: “Well, I have to disagree with Jose there. I think it will be decided here. These days it’s very important to take a goal back for the home leg. If we do that, we’ll have a great chance.
“And he thinks it’s going to extra-time? Interesting. He’s probably forgotten we’re pretty good at that!”

Mourinho: “I don’t believe United are coming here to have fun.
“They are a great attacking team but I have watched them closely in Europe — starting with the goal-less draw in Barcelona last season — and they have changed the way they play outside Old Trafford.
“I’m not saying they are afraid of us but they do know they can lose.
“They will not come here to take us on and win the game.”

Fergie: “Jose knows better than most that Manchester United do not often go into games not wanting to win. It will be the same out here.”

Mourinho: “We will play basically the same way — 4-4-2 with Adriano and Zlatan Ibrahimovic up front and a diamond in midfield. I’m not frightened to tell you that.
“But they will not come here with Cristiano Ronaldo, Carlos Tevez, Dimitar Berbatov and Wayne Rooney all in the team. Michael Carrick, Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs and Park Ji Sung will play their part.
“Defensive? Sure.”

Fergie: “Obviously, I’m trying to think of how Inter could change and I can’t come up with anything.
“We watched them on six occasions and they played the same way every single time.
“Apart from bringing in someone for Nemanja Vidic at centre-half, we will have the same team and will play our normal game.”

Finally from Fergie: “There was a great upsurge in Chelsea’s position in the game when Jose came in.
"He uttered the words, ‘I’m the Special One’ and it galvanised the club. He caught us on the hop in that first season and, by the time we realised it, they were nine points clear by October.
“After that, it was a case of catch-up.
“As for records, I don’t normally dwell on them. But this is certainly one stat I don’t like to think about.”

I think that Fergie won the first battle!