In football sometimes we get rivalries that never seem to go away and never disappoint us either!

One such feud is that between Jose Mourinho and Rafa Benitez.

Both are well respected coaches, who have won endless amounts of trophies and awards between them. Yet the two world-class managers just can’t stand each other.

It’s quite impressive that the two gentleman can still garner back-page headlines due to their dislike for each other, especially when you consider that they haven’t managed in the same domestic league competition for almost eight years now!

The duo’s latest spat erupted bizarrely after Rafael’s good lady stated that her husband has had to tidy up after Jose at three different clubs.

Mrs Benitez said in an interview with La Region:

“Real Madrid are the third of Jose Mourinho’s old teams Rafa has coached,”

“We tidy up his (Mourinho) messes. If you think about it, of course you end up crossing paths. There are only a few world-class clubs out there.”

The comment was probably a bit of tongue in cheek but if it was designed to spark a response from the self proclaimed ‘Special One’ then it surely worked.

After a preseason penalties victory over FC Barcelona, Jose decided to hit back at the claims:

“The lady is a bit confused, with all respect. I’m not laughing, because her husband went to Chelsea to replace Roberto Di Matteo and he went to Real Madrid and replaced Carlo Ancelotti, “

“The only club where her husband replaced me was at Inter Milan, where in six months he destroyed the best team in Europe at the time.”

To be fair to Jose, you cannot really argue with his observations.

Five years had actually passed between Jose’s first stint in charge at Chelsea and Rafa taking over. Also during that stint Benitez had constant problems with certain members of the squad and with the majority of Chelsea’s fans. The Portuguese boss would then takeover from Rafa at Stamford Bridge and eventually bring back the Premier League title.

Some might say that Jose really cleaned up Rafa’s mess at Chelsea? Jose himself being one!

Another former Chelsea boss, Carlo Ancelotti, had a two year spell in charge of Real Madrid in between Jose’s era at the Bernabeu and Benitez taking the Real job this summer. During his time in charge, Carlo won the Champions League with Madrid, so I doubt he’ll be chuffed to hear that a mess has been left in the Spanish capital since his enforced departure.

Then you have the Inter Milan scenario.

Rafa Benitez had a disastrous time in charge of the Nerazzurri. He took the job after Jose had departed for Real but during Mourinho’s last season in charge Inter won a unique treble that included the Champions League title. Rafa came in and immediately rubbed the squad up the wrong way and struggled to get too many positive results.

In the end he lasted a mere six months and although he secured the World Club Cup, the Italian champions were struggling in the Serie A race and most of the club had fallen out with the Spaniard.

The Inter Milan argument is a bit of a double edged sword for Mourinho. He loves the club but he seems to love the fact that Benitez totally failed at the San Siro just as much as any of his famous victories.

Previously he said this on the Inter/Rafa scenario and about the World Club Cup triumph:

“I thought he was going to thank me for the title I gave him. Ask all the Inter fans what they think of me and him.”

The current Chelsea boss didn’t just leave it with comparing CV’s though and would then launch a personal attack against his foe and his wife:

“And for her also to think about me and to speak about me, I think she needs to occupy her time, and if she takes care of her husband’s diet she will have less time to speak about me.”

That is obviously a jab at Rafa’s podgy body shape. To be honest Mourinho is better than that but he seems to have this perverse side that loves to point out other peoples flaws.

That said obviously Mrs Benitez would have been better off not making any comments about the Jose/Rafa rivalry even if they were in jest.

The two clearly have a dislike for each other. But surely both men can just get on with their own tasks (although Rafa may point out he did nothing this time) and concentrate on their own clubs.

Now this has blown up again, you can’t help but imagine that Real Madrid and Chelsea will now draw each other at some point during this seasons Champions League campaign. What a toxic few weeks that would cause and some very interesting press conferences too.

The pair need to realise that this is just football not a rapping dispute between the East Coast and the West Coast massive.

Although if they were feuding hip-hop artists it would be Jose ‘Two Times’ Mourinho versus Rafa ‘Biggie’ Benitez! 

Posted on July 29th, 2015 by scott
Filed under: Article