Jose Mourinho slams Leicester stars for selfishness leading to Claudio Ranieri sacking

Just 48 hours before the EFL Cup final, the Manchester United manager wore the initials “CR” on his top in his press conference yesterday in support of Claudio Ranieri, before launching his scathing attack on the Foxes squad, many of who signed lucrative new contracts after lifting the Premier League championship last season.

Jose Mourinho was sacked by Chelsea in similar circumstances last season amid reports of a players’ revolt but said his experience was “peanuts” compared to Leicester’s treatment of the man who led them to the most unexpected title in football history last season.

He said: “Probably the season started with the typical selfishness of others, people thinking about new contracts, people thinking about more money, people thinking about leaving and forgetting who helped them to reach a certain level.

"This is not just football, it’s a bit of our world. Some principles are going away a little bit. I’m really sorry about it but I lived a similar experience.

Jose Mourinho slammed the Leicester players who have forgotten who led them to the title

Jose Mourinho called his sacking at Chelsea "peanuts" compared to Claudio Ranieri

"I thought last season when I was sacked as a champion it was a giant negative thing, now I realise it was peanuts to what happened with Claudio.

"If some of the stories I am reading are true, or are a little bit true, it’s hard to find words to justify that.”

Former Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini was the early favourite to replace his fellow Italian, with former Chelsea boss Guus Hiddink, and ex-England supremo Roy Hodgson also on Leicester’s radar, along with Huddersfield’s up and coming boss David Wagner.

Ranieri’s former assistant Craig Shakespeare will be in caretaker charge for the visit of Liverpool on Monday night – and he has also thrown his hat into the ring for the job.

"Do I think I could do the job? Yes,” said Shakespeare. “Does it faze me? No. Claudio is held in respect by supporters and quite rightly so. We need them to get behind the team and all pull together.

"I can’t tell fans how they should behave. The players are very hurt and they will be disappointed like everybody else that the manger has lost his job.”

Ranieri issued a statement in which he said: “Yesterday my dream died. After the euphoria of last season and being crowned Premier League champions all I dreamt of was staying with Leicester City, the club I love, for always. Sadly this was not to be.

"I wish to thank my wife Rosanna and all my family for their never ending support during my time at Leicester.”

Craig Shakespeare will take on the Leicester job in a caretaker role

Mourinho added: “My shirt with the his [CR] initials is my little my homage to somebody who who wrote the most beautiful history of the Premier League. He was somebody who deserved to have the stadium named after him but he has been sacked.”

Mourinho was not so charitable when replacing Ranieri when he was sacked by Chelsea in 2004. He said back then: ““It is really not my fault if he was considered a loser at Chelsea.”

And he went further four years later, adding: “Ranieri...has the mentality of someone who doesn’t need to win. He is almost 70 years old. He has won a Supercup and another small trophy and he is too old to change his mentality.

"He’s old and he hasn’t won anything. I studied Italian five hours a day for many months to ensure I could communicate with the players, media and fans. Ranieri had been in England for five years and still struggled to say ‘good morning’ and ‘good afternoon’.”