Claudio Is King Of The Animals

Last updated : 16 August 2003 By Rich Godden
In yet another of his bizarre rants, Claudio has labelled Adrian Mutu as his shark. Having already labelled Jimmy as a shark and Carlton Cole as his young lion, Ranieri claimed he was assembling a zoo!

But he had more words of praise for Mutu, saying "Mutu is a good second striker. He can play in every position, is quick and strong, and anyone who scores 18 goals in one season in Serie A is very dangerous."

But, given the selection headache he will have tomorrow, Claudio claims that keeping all of his stars happy is not his toughest challenge: "It was more difficult 15 years ago as I only had 10 or 11 players and had no-one to sit on the bench. What did I do? I fought," he recalled.

He could have a fight on his hands tomorrow if he leaves Jimmy out again!