Arbeloa on Mourinho before Benfica v Real: No one like him | OneFootball

The press conference of Álvaro Arbeloa, ahead of the clash between Benfica and Real Madrid, ended up turning into a sort of tribute to José Mourinho. The Spanish coach, still at the beginning of his journey in this new experience as head coach, did not hide his admiration for the former "Merengue" coach and stated that no one will ever be like the "Special One".

"There will never be anyone like him. Anyone who tries to imitate him will fail. My success will come from being myself. I learned a lot from him, tactically, personally, and in terms of communication. But tomorrow, it will be 90 minutes, he will want to win, and so will I. That’s the most important thing," he told the Spanish and Portuguese media.

The former Spanish international confessed that he did not miss the moment when Mourinho spoke to the press. "I didn’t miss the coach’s conference. I used to do the same when I was a player, always with the TV on. I felt tremendous pride hearing everything he said about me. José is still much more than just a coach. On a personal level, he was very important in my career and I consider him a great friend."

"We’ve kept in touch. But I don’t want to be annoying. I know how he is. He changes his phone number a lot. But I know he would pick up the phone if I called him at three in the morning, even if we haven’t spoken in a while," he said, after being asked if he had already spoken to Mourinho since becoming coach of the "Galácticos".

The duel between Benfica and Real Madrid is scheduled for today, January 28. The match will take place at Estádio da Luz, the ball will start rolling at 8pm, and the game will be refereed by Italian Davide Massa, with VAR duties handled by Marco Di Bello.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇵🇹 here.