Benfica coach Jose Mourinho said his Real Madrid counterpart Alvaro Arbeloa was like a child to him ahead of their Champions League battle on Wednesday.
The veteran Portuguese manager coached Arbeloa at Madrid during his time at the helm of Los Blancos between 2010-2013, and had a strong relationship with the former defender in a dressing room that was splintering.
After a comment from Mourinho last week about being "surprised" when inexperienced managers lead big European clubs was viewed as a dig at new Madrid coach Arbeloa, he said he would never try to make life hard for his former charge.
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Former Inter Milan coach Mourinho said in Italy his words were also being taken as criticism of the appointment of Cristian Chivu at the Serie A side last summer.
"There is one problem – both Chivu and Arbeloa are my children, they are not just ex-players of mine, but they are special," Mourinho told a news conference Tuesday.
"Speaking about Alvaro, I would say that he is one of the players – from a human point of view, from a personal point of view, and personal empathy – he is one of my favourites of them all.
"Obviously he is not the best player who has played for Real Madrid, but he is certainly one of the best men who has played for me at Real Madrid."
Mourinho said he was surprised when he himself was offered the chance to lead Benfica at the beginning of his coaching career in 2000, so his words could not be taken as an insult.
"The last thing I would do would be to put pressure on him," explained the 63-year-old. "I want everything to go well for him, and for him to have a fantastic career as a coach."
'NO CALL NECESSARY'
Mourinho said he had not spoken to Arbeloa since the 43-year-old replaced Xabi Alonso at the helm but that there was no need to.
"My telephone number is very complicated, because there's only the club's number, and after that only my family has it, and then my other phone is always changing, changing, changing," explained Mourinho.
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"People lose my contact and I lose theirs too, and with Alvaro it's not necessary to have a call to say 'good luck', he knows it.
"In the same way that I (want Real Madrid to win games), Alvaro wants to beat Benfica but then after that, he hopes Benfica always win, that's for sure – no call is necessary."
Mourinho admitted he could not speak for Arbeloa's quality as a coach yet because he had not watched Madrid's reserves or youth teams play.
"I cannot analyse him as a coach because I do not know him," said Mourinho.
"I've only seen results, not followed with my own eyes the trajectory of the youngsters at Madrid...
"I have no advice to give him. The only thing that is important for me is that he is happy, that he likes it, because coaching these days is a very difficult mission."
Madrid can seal their spot in the last 16 with a victory, while Benfica need to win and hope other results go their way to reach the play-off round.