Iberian tacticians fight for more silverware

Spaniard Rafael Benitez and Jose Mourinho, from Portugal, made their official bow in the English game 537 days ago.

On their debut in the Premiership, Mourinho steered Chelsea to a 1-0 win over Manchester United (Gudjohnsen) at Stamford Bridge, and Benitez's Liverpool shared the spoils in a 1-1 (Cisse) draw at Tottenham.

By the end of the season, the duo had claimed three of the five prizes available at home and in Europe. Mourinho guided the Londoners to their first league championship in 50 years. Earlier in the season, Chelsea went all the way in the League Cup, beating Liverpool 3-2 after extra time in the final at Cardiff (Gerrard own goal, Drogba, Kezman - Riise, Nunez).

Benitez failed to leave the desired mark in his first season in the Premiership. The Spanish coach felt he needed a bigger squad and only managed to lead Liverpool to fifth place and out of the Champions League zone.

Yet, he showed his credentials as Liverpool continued to show steady progress in the Champions League and went on to win the coveted trophy in the most dramatic final in the 50 years of the competition.

In the showdown against Milan in Istanbul, they began the second half 3-0 down. But the Reds staged a remarkable comeback, coming from the death to draw 3-3 (Gerrard, Smicer, Alonso) and win the penalty shoot-out 3-2 (Hamann, Cisse, Smicer; Dudek saved from Pirlo and Shevchenko) after extra time.

This season, Chelsea are almost sure of retaining the championship crown as the gap between them and their rivals looks impossible to bridge.

You have to go back to the 1930s to find a club from London that managed to retain the title. Arsenal won three straight championships in 1933, 1934 and 1935. That tremendous feat will be a target for Mourinho's Chelsea in 2006-07.

Mourinho and his merry men have repeatedly stressed that their first ambition is to win the Champions League and that a double of the league and European cup, would indeed be a great achievement.

It is indeed in Europe where every club set its benchmark. You can take nothing away from the Portuguese coach but sometimes he just astounds you with his remarks.

Lately, he alleged that Liverpool can only defend, and that he encouraged Benfica to show no fear of the holders of the trophy in the Champions League last 16 stage.

Liverpool's Benitez will be honoured in June along with skipper Steven Gerrard and possibly, Jamie Carragher, for their accomplishment in Istanbul.

Benitez will be given an honorary OBE, the same award conferred to his predecessor Gerard Houllier and Arsenal's Arsene Wenger in the past.

Benitez is unlikely to be tempted to take on Mourinho for the way he has criticised Liverpool. Last year, Mourinho accused Wenger of being too obsessed with happenings at Stamford Bridge. Yet, he followed in his footsteps soon after.

In the Champions League, Liverpool finished on top of Chelsea twice. Last season, they defeated them in the quarter-finals on their way to their mighty grab, and this term they claimed top spot in their group whereas Mourinho's men finished second.

Cup speciality

The target for the Premiership managers still involved in the FA Cup will be to make it to the final on the occasion of the inauguration of the new Wembley Stadium (provided construction works are finished in time).

Mourinho stated that he had dreamt of reaching the FA Cup final so that his Chelsea would be forever enshrined in the history of the new stadium. He added that the Premiership was the biggest competition in the country but the FA Cup meant a lot because of its tradition as well as the difficulty of winning matches in good and bad stadiums.

Mourinho had felt the warmth of the Wembley atmosphere as assistant coach with Barcelona against Arsenal in a Champions League match in 1999-2000.

Mourinho has a lot of admiration for the way the Premiership League is contested even if his side had to play four matches in eight days.

Chelsea were the only side to attain the maximum 12 points over the holiday period. Quality training, mentally-strong players, a careful recovery programme, top-notch medical care and appropriate nutrition to compensate for the energy expended, had made it possible for Chelsea to play the fourth game of that crammed series at high intensity, Mourinho remarked.

"I take my hat off to my players and all the others that in this country give the public the football they love over the festive season, playing with passion and professionalism," Mourinho added.

Lauds Sir Alex

Liverpool have clearly made giant steps compared to last season in the Premiership when they struggled before they finished fifth.

Although like the rest of the teams they cannot surpass Chelsea, Liverpool have improved in their performances, claiming a successive run of ten wins in which they conceded one goal.

Liverpool managed to cut the big lead Manchester United had over them last season when the clubs finished 19 points apart. This improvement was also highlighted when Benitez won back-to-back manager of the month awards in November and December.

On the eve of their 0-1 loss at Old Trafford, that brought to a halt a sequence of 12 undefeated Premiership matches, Benitez remarked that he wanted to emulate Sir Alex Ferguson by spending 20 years at the same club. He continued that he was a great admirer of Ferguson and had great personal respect for the Scot, adding:

"Last year we were both going to Geneva for a coaching seminar and shared the same plane. He was kind enough to explain a lot of things about football in England. I would certainly like to be a manager of one club as long as he has been at United."