Alvaro Arbeloa hails former boss Jose Mourinho as ‘role model’ ahead of reunion

Alvaro Arbeloa comes up against “role model” Jose Mourinho at Benfica on Wednesday aiming to secure a top-eight Champions League finish for Real Madrid.

Real enter the final round of group games in third spot and two points above the current cut-off for automatic progress into the last 16 of the competition.

Arbeloa is keen to avoid next month’s play-off round for teams that finish between ninth and 24th in the 36-team table, and a positive result at Estadio da Luz will achieve that objective.

Standing in his way is former Real boss Mourinho, under whom he played at the Bernabeu and won LaLiga and Copa del Rey titles.

“He is a role model. I said it on the first day, there will never be anyone like Jose,” head coach Arbeloa told reporters at his pre-match press conference in Lisbon.

“Anyone who tries to imitate him will fail. I’ve understood that from day one. My success will be being myself.

“There’s a significant part of his influence and everything he represented. I was able to learn from him on a communicative and tactical level, but now we’ll face each other.

“I know he’ll want to win because I know how competitive he is. But so will I – and the most important thing will be those 90 minutes.”

Arbeloa says he has kept contact with Mourinho since the Portuguese left Madrid in 2013 and continued his managerial journey in England, Italy, Turkey and Portugal.

He said: “I know who Mourinho is, I know what his phone must be like. You can understand why he changes his number so often.

“I’ve tried to bother him as little as possible. But he’s one of those friends you can go a long time without speaking to, and then if you call him at 3am, I’m sure he’d answer.

“He’d be there for anything I needed. That’s the kind of relationship I have with Jose. I’m really looking forward to seeing him and giving him a big hug.”

Real have won three on the spin since Arbeloa’s first game ended in an embarrassing Copa del Rey defeat to second-tier Albacete.

They crushed Monaco 6-1 in the Champions League last week and Kylian Mbappe is the competition’s top scorer with 11.

“This is a crucial match for us, we need the three points against a fantastic team,” said Arbeloa.

“I’ve already warned the players that if we want to win we have to be fully focused and play at our absolute best for the full 90 minutes.”

Benfica look unlikely to gatecrash the top 24 and continue in Europe as they are two points shy of the play-off places.

Mourinho said: “Arbeloa isn’t just a former player of mine – he’s like one of my kids. Personally, he’s one of my favourite players.

“The only time I hope things don’t go perfectly is tomorrow.”