José Mourinho found time in his post-match press conference to attack Rafael Benítez, the Real Madrid coach, after Benítez’s wife teased Mourinho by saying he left a mess at the Bernabéu that her husband will have to clean up.

There is little love lost between Mourinho and Benítez, and the dislike will only fester even further after the Chelsea manager launched a withering riposte following his side’s 4-2 penalty shootout victory over Barcelona in Washington.

Benítez has coached Mourinho’s former teams three times: at Inter, Chelsea, and now Real Madrid, and Montserrat Seara, Benítez’s wife, poked fun at the Portuguese coach in the Galician newspaper La Region.

“Real are the third of José Mourinho’s old teams [that] Rafa has coached,” she joked. “We tidy up his messes! If you think about it, of course you end up crossing paths. There are only a few world-class clubs out there.”

But Mourinho said: “The lady is a bit confused, with all respect. I’m not laughing, because her husband went to Chelsea to replace Roberto Di Matteo and he went to Real Madrid and replaced Carlo Ancelotti.

“The only club where her husband replaced me was at Inter Milan, where in six months he destroyed the best team in Europe at the time.

“And for her also to think about me and to speak about me, I think she needs to occupy her time, and if she takes care of her husband’s diet she will have less time to speak about me.”