Manchester City vs Roma: Ashley Cole shows no bitterness at being released from Chelsea by Jose Mourinho

Full-back in jovial mood as he talks about adjusting to life in Rome and refuses to criticise old club

Ashley Cole (GETTY IMAGES)

It was an inauspicious start for Ashley Cole, back in the country where – for all that he might say otherwise – he would like to demonstrate that he was dispensed with long before his time. The press-conference swivel chair he dropped into yesterday to talk about his new club Roma’s tie at Manchester City tonight was lower than he anticipated and it looked as if he was going to fall out of the back of it. He grabbed at the arms, grinned, looked up and began the conversation that deconstructed the notion that this man is one of football’s social misfits – a most difficult and diffident individual.

There was certainly one difficult moment. It came when the obligatory question was raised about Rio Ferdinand’s claim, in his autobiography published this week, that Cole betrayed him by not testifying against John Terry in the race case brought by his brother, Anton. The question was not even out there when Cole shot back: “I’m here to talk about football… I’m not here to talk about that.” And behind those words, he wore a face like thunder.

It was a measure of how Cole appears to be growing into his new life, that the clouds cleared and he put the moment behind him. Cole has been clinging to some aspects of his old life in the city of the seven hills. His Mercedes G-Class motor was shipped out from England a few weeks ago. But the modesty and self-deprecation on show felt like something entirely new, given that the general propensity to hate Cole made him a near invisible figure by the time he took his leave of London.

If there was a lingering sense of frustration with Jose Mourinho’s decision to put his faith in Cesar Azpilicueta and let Cole leave, then the former England international did a good job of disguising it. “I don’t think Chelsea were wrong,” he said. “A decision was made and I’m fine with it. I had eight great years there and I still speak to the staff and players.”

There was fleeting evidence of his grasp of the lingo. “Maybe you have to ask Mister,” he said of manager Rudi Garcia, when asked how Manchester City and English football in general are viewed in Italy. Cole and Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa, the defender on loan from Newcastle United, are taking Italian lessons with a linguist Roma have laid on. They say Cole has formed a friendship with Daniele De Rossi, another of the bearded fraternity and a fluent English speaker.

But beyond all the talk of acclimatisation –the sense emerged of a player simply looking forward to doing what he does best in familiar company, on an English football field tonight. The once ridiculous prospect of him standing across a pitch from Frank Lampard in a City v Roma fixture seems to be cherished. “It [will just] be nice to see people like Joe Hart and Lamps. I never expected to play against him. He is a good friend of mine,” Cole said. Roma need a change of fortune tonight. Three visits to Manchester have brought three defeats. Francesco Totti and De Rossi still flinch at the memory of that 7-1 defeat at Old Trafford which they both played in eight years ago. There has been only one win in 14 visits to England for Roma.

Cole was blunt about the greater pressure he believes is on City’s players. “Yes – they have not been to the knockout stages [often] and there is pressure on them,” he said. “They have big players and I know some of them are very hungry – Hart and Milner and Lamps will always want to keep on winning. There’s less pressure on us.”

Garcia was even blunter after beginning the group with a 5-1 win against CSKA Moscow, while City lost in Munich. “A lot of people said when we didn’t have a chance,” he said. “But we haven’t lost a game and they probably have a bit more to lose.”

The old battles come thick and fast for Cole. Saturday takes him to league leaders Juventus for a match-up with Patrice Evra – the 2008 Battle of Stamford Bridge revisited. There is only so much time for sentiment.