Mourinho Was Rude – But Was He Right?

This article originally appeared on VICE Sports UK.

There really is only one Jose Mourinho.

Only Mourinho would exude the confidence to completely dispel the notion that he left "messes" at Inter Milan, Chelsea and Real Madrid with a dig at Rafael Benitez and his wife, Montse.

Only Mourinho would poke fun Rafa's weight (and in doing so imply that Mrs Benitez's role is in the kitchen – hardly progressive thinking).

Despite this, you could argue that Mourinho was fair to hit back at Rafa's wife – even if he did over-step the mark in a borderline tasteless manner.

In an interview with La Región, Montse suggested that her husband, now manager of Real Madrid, has been left to "tidy up another one of Mourinho's messes" at the Spanish giants.

To this Mourinho responded: "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."

It was not the most PC of comments, but it was Mourinho's other suggestion which ultimately packs the harder punch.

''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.''

It's safe to say you won't see Mourinho and Rafa sharing a glass of wine any time soon. Theirs is a feud that dates back to Luis Garcia's goal-that-probably-wasn't-a-goal in the 2005 Champions League semi-finals. From there Liverpool would go on to win their most famous modern triumph, against AC Milan in Istanbul. And Benitez certainly deserves credit for this.

The two would continue exchanging words in the years to come, with Rafa infamously suggesting he and Mourinho were pally-pally until Liverpool started beating Mourinho's Chelsea, back when Fernando Torres still knew how to score goals. Even Glen Johnson would occasionally show up his old club; anyone on the receiving end of a Johnson run-around would understandably be riddled with frustration.

A man who deals both in fact and witty-worded mind games of fiction with his fellow managers, it's the factual evidence of the Chelsea boss that takes precedence here. When Mourinho left Inter in 2010, they had just won the treble. By the time Benitez was sacked six months later, Inter were seventh, and have since failed to return to the upper echelons of Italian football. If anything, you could say that Inter are still cleaning up Benitez's mess.

Benitez departed the Giuseppe Meazza on the back of handing chairman Massimo Moratti an ultimatum: back me in the transfer market or call it quits.

But aside from the departure of Mario Balotelli to Man City, Inter didn't lose too many cogs from that treble winning side; it's not like he inherited an incompetent squad – quite the contrary. Then again, Sir Alex Ferguson left David Moyes a title-winning side, and we all know what happened there.

Benitez at Inter would be the only time Benitez directly followed Mourinho's footsteps. In 2012, the Spaniard took over at Chelsea some five years after Mourinho departed. So for Montse to suggest Mourinho left a mess at Stamford Bridge so extreme that it took five years to clean up is stretching it – it is perhaps even a show of disrespect to the legacy Mourinho left in West London.

In fact, between 2007 and 2012, the time between Mourinho leaving and Benitez arriving at Chelsea, the club won the Premier League, the Champions League and two FA Cups. If Mourinho did leave a mess at Stamford Bridge, it was certainly cleaned up by the time Rafa began hearing ''there's only one Di Matteo'' in the 16th minute of every home game.

So while it was tasteless slandering Benitez' weight, you can see where Mourinho got his aggression from. He helped transform Chelsea into one of Europe's elite clubs; at Inter, he ensured they would become the first Italian team to win the treble. If those are considered "messes", who would ever want to be tidy?

When Rafa went to Chelsea, he steadied a turbulent ship and won the Europa League for the Blues, also guiding them to a third-place finish in the Premier League. Not a bad return at all considering the revolving-door-managerial-system Abramovich is so fond of when Jose's not in town. But still, nowhere near comparable to what Mourinho had achieved at both clubs. Mourinho pioneered dynasties; Rafa won a trophy or two.

Now, Rafa has taken the reigns at Real Madrid. This is his chance to get one over Mourinho, two years after the Portuguese departed the Bernabau. In the three years he spent in Madrid, Mourinho managed only two major trophies: a La Liga triumph and the Copa del Rey. He never made the final of the Champions League and was largely over-shadowed by the brilliance of Barcelona throughout his tenure.

If Mourinho struggled to overpower Barca before Messi, Suarez and Neymar were their front three, Benitez' task is monumental, albeit not impossible. Madrid of course have their own devastating front-three in Ronaldo, Bale and Benzema. Behind them are a host of Galacticos, and an arsenal of arguably the best young Spanish talent in Isco, Caravajal, Jese, and more recently, Ceballos and Football Manager 2015 gem Jesus Vallejo (consider this a tip: he has a release clause of just £1.1m at the start of the game).

The talent is most certainly there for Benitez to thrive. If he can, he will certainly emulate Mourinho on the biggest stage either managed has ever shared. Maybe Benitez will become one of the most successful managers in Madrid history; you never know, right?

What we do know is that Mourinho left legacies at Chelsea and Inter Milan. Benitez was a disaster at Inter, and did what was required of him at Chelsea, but not a great deal more. Mourinho faltered in Madrid, and now, Rafa has a real chance to get one over on his old adversary. Fingers crossed we see Chelsea drawn against Real Madrid at some point in next season's Champions League.