Inter fans fear Mourinho's exit

Milan: "Secondo titulo," read the banner in the hands of the three wide-eyed young men as they emerged, cheering and yelling into Milan's Piazza Duomo.

Like the 50,000 others flooding into the square they were there to celebrate Inter's second trophy of the season, the Scudetto, sealed with a 1-0 win away to Siena.

And maybe also to remind their Serie A rivals that they were once again going to finish a season with "zeru tituli" — zero titles between them.

In the wake of Inter's fifth consecutive title, which may yet become only the fourth if Juventus succeed with their attempts to have the Nerazzurri stripped of the 2005-06 Scudetto that was awarded to them in the aftermath of Serie A's Calciopoli scandal, one man's name was the first on everyone's lips.

Even Inter's president, Massimo Moratti, was insistent that: "This Scudetto bears the signature of Mourinho."

This was in many ways the least convincing of Inter's Serie A titles since 2006, secured with the least points (82), the smallest advantage over second place (two points) and the only one in which Inter had lost control of top spot during the second half of the season, even if only for a couple of weeks.

But Moratti's compliment was by no means a backhanded one. To seal the Scudetto whilst also steering Inter to a Coppa Italia triumph and the Champions League final is no mean feat, especially with Roma offering such a determined challenge.

Mourinho, though, is loved for the way that he wins almost as much as the fact that he does.

The fear among Inter's fans is of course that yesterday's game was Mourinho's penultimate one in charge of their team.

He insisted once again yesterday that nothing had been decided, but his admission that Italy is not "my natural habitat", coupled with the tears he shed on the pitch have certainly done nothing to dispel the sense that his future lies elsewhere.

He may not yet, in his own words, "have one foot in Madrid", but it seems certain that he will receive an offer to relocate there this summer. Even if he does, though, he will leave behind a team that is stronger than when he arrived.

The arrivals of Sneijder, Lucio, Samuel Eto'o, Diego Milito, Thiago Motta, Goran Pandev and McDonald Mariga have reinvigorated a team that was threatening to become stale, and to keep fighting.