Jose Mourinho seems to have changed his tune on Claudio Ranieri, sending a message of warmth to his contemporary upon the Italian’s sacking at Leicester.

Manchester United have an EFL Cup final against Southampton on Sunday to look forward to, but Jose took time out of his schedule to pen an Instagram message to his contemporary.

Nice words, but very different from what Jose said about Ranieri in 2008: “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.’”

It looks as though Mourinho’s mood has cooled since, and he wasn’t the only manager to extend his regards to the 65-year-old – former Premier League champion Roberto Mancini also joined it.

I am sorry for my friend #Ranieri. He will remain in the history of @LCFC, in the heart of #Leicester fans and all football lovers.

— Roberto Mancini (@robymancio) February 24, 2017

Lovely stuff – though it might look a little different if, as the bookies suspect, Mancini ends up replacing Ranieri in the Leicester hotseat.