Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho has responded to the claims of Montserrat Seara, Rafa Benitez’s wife, that the new Real Madrid coach has made a career of cleaning up the Portuguese manager’s wreckage at Europe’s top clubs.

“Real are the third of Jose Mourinho’s old teams (that) Rafa has coached,” Seara told newspaper La Region (h/t Sky Sports). “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.”

Responding bluntly, Mourinho suggested Benitez has only ever directly taken over from him once. Although the press were amused, Mourinho didn’t appear to be, reported Sky Sports:

The lady is a bit confused. I am not laughing. 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.

Mourinho then seemed to take a shot at Benitez’s appearance: “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.”

The barbed retort is based on a decade of rivalry between the two tacticians. Former Liverpool manager Benitez was an irritating foe of Mourinho’s during the latter’s original spell with Chelsea, defined by a dramatic 2005 Champions League semi-final clash at Anfield, in which Luis Garcia scored a controversial goal in front of the Kop.

It’s still debated whether the ball crossed the line, but alas, Liverpool progressed to the Istanbul final and went on to secure an historic 3-0 comeback against AC Milan. Mourinho has previously claimed “the linesman scored.” The goal can be seen below:

A couple of years down the line, and once the Reds had ended Chelsea’s quest for the Premier League title, Benitez said: “Me and Jose were really good friends until Liverpool started beating them,” reported Liam Prenderville of the Mirror.

Mourinho’s Inter Milan side won a memorable treble in 2010, but he moved to Real Madrid before having a chance to win the FIFA Club World Cup. Benitez strolled into the job and secured the trophy, but his predecessor claimed it as his own.

“Another thing is also true that should he lift the Intercontinental Cup, he will have only won two games compared to my 13. Therefore it will be my trophy and not his,” said Mourinho, per Prenderville.

The comments go on and on. Mourinho has remained notably prickly during pre-season, even by his standards. He recently told Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger to “get a calculator” before moaning about big-spending teams, reported Rob Draper of the MailOnline.

Mourinho and his Chelsea squad are the Premier League’s No. 1 targets for the upcoming season. Every club will try to dismantle the west London side’s success. His defensiveness is likely to continue in a bid to remove the spotlight from his players, which is a strategy that makes his handling of the media fascinating.

There’s no doubt Mourinho will have plenty to say if Benitez departs Madrid without reinstalling Los Blancos as La Liga’s top side. The regular jibes are unlikely to stop, particularly now both managers are in control of teams who expect to win constant silverware.

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