INTER-Milan coach Jose Mourinho said he understood the importance of beating rivals Juventus after the Serie A leaders won 1-0 at the San Siro on Saturday.

The champions extended their lead at the top to four points after Sulley Muntari turned in Zlatan Ibrahimovic's effort.

'We played better than the opposition. The team did fantastic from the first minute to the last, those on the pitch and those on the bench,' the jubilant Portuguese coach told reporters.

HIS TACTICS:

'I understood during the week how important it is for Inter to beat Juventus. To beat a team like Juventus you have to play very well. We scored a goal that wasn't beautiful but it is three points to us.'

Inter boss Jose Mourinho claimed his team's discipline in sticking to his tactics made the difference.

'I have an intelligent team and they did everything they needed to do to win. They paid attention to winning and so they won,' he said.

'They were excellent from start to finish. Obviously I'm very happy about beating Juve.

'We knew we would win if we made no mistakes. Alessandro Del Piero is in great form at the moment but we controlled the match.'

WHY HE BROUGHT ADRIANO BACK:

'Juve played a negative game,' Mourinho said before explaining why he had brought back striker Adriano from a four-match absence after discipline problems.

'For a game like this we needed an 'animal' like Adriano.

'Adriano gave what the team needed up against two defenders like (Giorgio) Chiellini and (Nicola) Legrottaglie.

'We needed someone like Adriano and the goal showed this as he took two defenders away from the play. He also helped us defensively.'

THE RIVALRY:

Their already fierce rivalry worsened in 2006 when Juve were stripped of the title and demoted in a match-fixing scandal, leaving Inter to be awarded the championship and then sign Ibrahimovic and Patrick Vieira from their rivals.

Mourinho and Juventus counterpart Claudio Ranieri are also far from being best friends after a number of crossed words and the fact that Ranieri was sacked by Chelsea in 2004 to make way for the Portuguese.

Ranieri, though, was gracious in defeat.

'Inter deserved it because they pressed and stopped us playing our game.' he said.

'I think Ibrahimovic wasn't trying to pass but was trying to shoot. It could have been tiredness on our part. Tonight we maybe played too many long balls.'

The game was played at a furious pace with end-to-end action, although with few clearcut scoring chances.

The hosts scored in scrappy fashion 18 minutes from time as a scuffed Ibrahimovic shot found Muntari at the back post with an empty goal to tap into.

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