Lele Oriali relishes Jose Mourinho v Antonio Conte battle as Benfica host Napoli

Lele Oriali is relishing the meeting of two “superstars of the bench” when Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte battle it out for three Champions League points on Wednesday evening.

Mourinho’s Benfica host Conte’s Napoli at the Estadio da Luz on what will be a special night for coordinator of Napoli’s technical staff Oriali, who worked alongside the Portuguese at Inter Milan when they won the competition in 2010.

He also played his part in Napoli’s Serie A triumph last season and remains a key member of Conte’s staff, so is well-placed to assess the merits of two head coaches he could not hold in higher regard.

Former Italy international Oriali, a World Cup winner in 1982, told La Gazzetta dello Sport: “We are talking about superstars of the bench, coaches who shape their teams so deeply that they capture the players’ souls.

“For Mourinho and Conte, the players would walk through fire – and that’s not just a figure of speech. Their history tells it, and the testimony of those who’ve been coached by them.

“Inside these coaches, there are strong human values.”

Napoli will run out in Lisbon on the back of five successive wins in all competitions, but sitting in 20th place in the Champions League table with seven points from their first five fixtures and knowing they still have work to do if they are to make it to the last 16.

Victory over Benfica, who collected their first points of the campaign with a 2-0 win at Ajax last month, would aid their cause, but Oriali knows Mourinho – the only person apart from his mother who calls him Gabriele, he revealed – will have a plan.

He said: “He always knows where to put his hands to overcome difficulties. I can already imagine him trying to figure out what to do after analysing us.”

Benfica have beaten Napoli only once in their four previous encounters and lost the other three, and although they have struggled in Europe this season – they lost to Qarabag, Chelsea, Newcastle and Bayer Leverkusen before belatedly opening their account in Amsterdam – they are unbeaten in the Primeira Liga after 13 games.

Mourinho will hope to build upon that to prolong this season’s European adventure, but he will have no help from his old friend inside the Napoli camp.

Asked if he would be in contact with his former boss before the game, Oriali said: “Not even a message. We’ll meet at the stadium, right there, and we’ll be able to communicate with our eyes and our gazes.

“We’ve faced off as adversaries before, but never as enemies.”