Rafa Benitez has once again started the war of words with Jose Mourinho after the Portuguese earlier claimed that Chelsea’s success in the Europa league last season under the Spaniard was not an achievement to be proud of. Mourinho was speaking after his team were involved in the Champions League quarter-final draw, while Benitez’ Napoli were part of the Europa league. Benitez successfully guided Chelsea to Europa league success after taking charge of the team midway through the campaign. By the time the Spaniard was appointed, Chelsea were on the brink of Champions League exit at the group stages.
Benitez has claimed that Mourinho likes to talk about people whereas he likes to talk about facts. The Spaniard has recalled that he managed to knock out a Chelsea team managed by Mourinho with his Liverpool team, which incidentally cost less than half of the Chelsea side. This happened in the 2005 Champions League semi-final when Liverpool managed to go on and achieve an incredible success in the competition. Benitez will have little to speak about Napoli’s campaign this season. After being involved in the Champions League group stages and finishing with 12 points, they were knocked out of the competition.
They have also been unable to prevent Juventus from winning the third straight league title despite spending £ 70 million in the summer.
“He speaks a lot about people – I like to talk about the facts. At Liverpool we eliminated his Chelsea from the Champions League with a team that cost half as much as his side,” said Benitez in response to the Chelsea manager’s latest comments. “Chelsea last year didn’t have a good season. They had problems qualifying for the Champions League and found themselves playing in the Europa with a team built for other objectives. If Juve win the Europa League it will mean nothing, as they were built for the Champions League,” said the Portuguese boss.