Jose Mourinho hits back at Rafa Benitez; accuses him of ruining his Inter Milan team

Jose Mourinho has responded to statements by Rafael Benitez’s wife

Never one to hold back, Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho has responded to statements made by Real Madrid coach Rafael Benitez’s wife, saying the Spaniard destroyed his Inter Milan team in six months. Speaking at the post-match press conference after Chelsea defeated Barcelona, Mourinho hit out at the earlier comments, as reported by the Guardian.

Benitez's wife Monserrat Seara had earlier said, "Real Madrid are the third of Jose Mourinho's old teams Rafa has coached. We tidy up his messes. If you think about it, of course, you end up crossing paths. There are only a few world-class clubs out there,” during an interview with Spanish newspaper La Region.

The Portuguese manager, in response, said, “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,” as per quotes carried by the Guardian from the press conference.

Mourinho says Benitez destroyed Inter Milan in 6 months

He also said, “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,” referring to the Spaniard’s disastrous reign at the Italian club, where he took them from Champions League holders to a team struggling to do well in the Serie A and Champions League. When he was sacked, the club were at 6^th position in the Serie A table and had been defeated by Tottenham in the Champions League.

The former Real Madrid and Inter Milan manager proceeded to end the topic with this statement, “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.”

Clearly, there is no love lost between Mourinho and Benitez, and the fact that he took the time out after a great pre-season win over Barcelona to talk about this showed that he never lets go and always likes to have the last word.

The two managers developed an intense rivalry during their time in England when Chelsea had upstaged everyone to win the Premier League twice under Mourinho. The reason why the rivalry developed into something that extends beyond the field was the controversial ghost goal scored by Luis Garcia in the Champions League semi-final against Chelsea for Liverpool, which was the deciding factor that pushed the Merseysiders, managed by Benitez into the final, where they famously defeated AC Milan on penalties.

During his managerial career, Benitez has managed Inter Milan, Chelsea (on an interim basis) and now Real Madrid, all three of which have at some point of time been managed by Jose Mourinho, but he only succeeded the Portuguese immediately at Inter Milan.