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Benitez, Mourinho uninterested in rekindling old war of words

CARL DE SOUZA / AFP / Getty

Rafa Benitez and Jose Mourinho were once fierce adversaries on the Premier League touchlines, and stand opposite one another once again Saturday as Manchester United hosts Newcastle at Old Trafford.

But the Spanish tactician isn't interested in renewing that old rivalry with his Portuguese counterpart - a feud that started over a decade ago when Benitez was in charge at Liverpool and Mourinho sat at Chelsea's helm.

"We will play against Manchester United," Benitez offered, simply, as quoted by the Press Association. "It's not the key, one manager or the two managers. Mourinho has won a lot of trophies in different countries with a lot of teams, so he's a good manager, and that's it.

"We will play against Manchester United and I am really concerned about (Romelu) Lukaku, (Juan) Mata, (Ander) Herrera, (Nemanja) Matic, (Marcus) Rashford, (Anthony) Martial - that's my main concern.''

Related: Pogba, Ibrahimovic, Rojo could play against Newcastle

Mourinho echoed his adversary's sentiments.

"I don't play Rafa, I play Newcastle," Mourinho explained, as quoted by Samuel Luckhurst of Manchester Evening News. "That's the point. I'm really good at forgetting little things in football, bad words or moments of conflict. I'm really good at forgetting that.

"The important thing is respect for the professional and person - I respect him in both ways. He is with me in one privileged list of few managers in Europe to have won the Champions League and Europa League, so we are side to side in that little group.

"I have immense respect for him. I will be more than happy to see him and salute him and play one more match. It is just one more match."

When both were younger men, their squabbles regarded a distaste for each other's brand of football. Mourinho was particularly upset with multiple defeats to Benitez, repeatedly claiming the best team did not win. He also poked fun at Benitez's diet. Since then, the pair took over at Real Madrid, Inter Milan, and Chelsea at different times. It was at the latter when Benitez's wife joked her husband was sent in to clean up after Mourinho's mess.

Mourinho quipped in 2015: "The lady is a bit confused, with all respect. I'm not laughing. She is confused because her husband went to Chelsea to replace Roberto Di Matteo and he went to Real Madrid and replaced Carlo Ancelotti."

Their mutual commentary has quieted down in recent years.

Eleventh-placed Newcastle sits nine spots and nine points below Manchester United in the table. Regardless of the result, Benitez has no issue sharing a post-match drink with his adversary, either.

"I don't have any problem to do with any one because I'm a professional and I know my job," he said.

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