Italy is hell compared with England: Ranieri

ROME - Claudio Ranieri, who quit as AS Roma coach last Sunday after four straight defeats and violent fan protests, likened Italian soccer to hell on Saturday and said the English game was preferable.

The former Chelsea coach, sacked by the London club in 2004 and replaced by fellow English soccer admirer Jose Mourinho after failing to win a trophy, would be interested in a return to the Premier League.

"In soccer there is paradise and there is hell. You can choose where to be between the two. Here, compared to England, it's hell," Ranieri said in his first comments since taking the unusual step these days of resigning.