Jose Mourinho has revealed a series of chance meetings with Arsene Wenger led the opposition managers to striking up an unlikely friendship.
The pair had endured a difficult relationship during Mourinho's initial spell in charge of Chelsea, with the Portuguese having called the Arsenal boss "a voyeur" for constantly commenting on his rivals' affairs.
However, while Mourinho was in charge of Inter Milan and Real Madrid, he found himself running into the Frenchman at various footballing tournaments, and the new Blues boss, who picks up at Stamford Bridge where he left off in 2007, says they have since developed a mutual respect for one another.
"I started meeting him in UEFA, at the Euros (European Championships), the World Cup, we had dinner and so on," Mourinho said.
"And when you are not in the same league and when you are not playing against each other, it is easier to know people, it is easier to go deeper. It is easy to speak about football, he's a very nice guy.
"I respect him a lot and I will show my respect always. (In) football sometimes even if you are friends and respect each other, you say something the other doesn't like and you react.
"But at the end of the day I respect him a lot and I have the feeling that he is the same in relation to me. I wouldn't bet on one single problem between us."-sports
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