Benitez better than Mourinho – Perez

Real Madrid president Florentino Perez has no plans to bring Jose Mourinho back to the Santiago Bernabeu, labelling Rafael Benitez “the best coach I’ve ever had”.

Mourinho’s Chelsea have started the Premier League in dreadful fashion with just four points from as many games, prompting rumours owner Roman Abramovich may lose patience with the Portuguese.

But if Mourinho does lose his current job, it looks unlikely he could turn to Madrid for rescue.

Under Benitez, Madrid have four points from two La Liga fixtures, while there is the not-so-small matter of Mourinho’s final season at the Santiago Bernabeu, where he fell out with Sergio Ramos, Iker Casillas, the media and fans.

Speaking to Cadena COPE on Thursday, Perez said: “I have no intention of re-signing him [Mourinho], although he did give us an important step up in terms of quality.

“Before him, we struggled to make it past the last 16 in Europe and that wasn’t good enough.”

Perez added: “[Benitez is] the best coach I’ve ever had.”

During the close-season, Benitez’s wife Montse joked that her husband followed Mourinho around “tidying up” after the latter, referring to the fact the Spanish coach has taken charge of Inter, Chelsea and Madrid after his Portuguese counterpart.

Unsurprisingly, Mourinho was unimpressed, slamming Mrs Benitez as “confused”.