Past meetings between Wenger and Benitez: Who has the upper hand
In the preseason, Benitez’s side held Arsenal to a 2-2 draw in the Emirates Cup. Rafael Benitez has faced the Frenchman twenty times in total. During his Valencia and Liverpool days the Spaniard scored six wins over Wenger lost eight times and managed five draws. Last season when he was the interim manager of Chelsea, Benitez’s side won their home game against Wenger’s side 2-1.
In his Liverpool days, Benitez won just four times against Arsene Wenger. However, it was in the Champions League where Benitez’s side won 5-3 on aggregate against the Londoners in the 2007/2008 campaign. Meanwhile, Arsene Wenger won seven times against Liverpool when the Spaniard was in charge there.
Benitez faced Arsene Wenger’s side for the first time in the knockout stages of the Champions League in the 2000/2001 season. Los Che won the first encounter 1-0 at the Mestalla and though they lost 2-1 at Highbury, away goals saw Wenger’s team crash out of the competition.
Two years later, both sides were in the same Champions League group (2002/2003 season) and once again, it was the Spaniard who had the upper hand, winning the home game 2-1 and drawing the reverse fixture (0-0)
In short, Wenger has had the ascendancy over Rafa in the league but when it comes to European football, Benitez’s sides have always been the dominant force and if that is the case in midweek, it should not come as a surprise.
A case of mutual respect and appreciation
Despite managing teams that always fight for top honours year in year out, both Arsene Wenger and Rafael Benitez have the utmost respect for each other. In a time where most of the managers were looking up to Sir Alex Ferguson as their inspiration, Rafael Benitez made quite a bold statement by stating that he rated Arsene Wenger above the Scot.
"There are a lot of good managers in the world, many who have won trophies. I don't like to talk about other managers.
When I came to England I knew the other managers. Arsene Wenger was the best manager who had been here for a while. But I cannot talk about these things every day,” the Spaniard stated during his first press conference as the interim manager of Chelsea.
And it appears that Wenger is also keeping tabs on what his former Liverpool adversary is up to these days. Two weeks back, the Gunners’ manager admitted that Benitez is doing a great job with Napoli.
"We have a hard group," Wenger told reporters. "I believe that any of the teams could qualify.
"Among these are Napoli – I think they are more or less at our level. Benitez is doing a wonderful job.
"He has some very good players in his squad. I believe that they can fight with Juventus for the Scudetto."
With so much appreciation coming from both ends, the Champions League tie between these two sides is likely to be a very good encounter with little or no scuffles especially around the technical area.
Two teams in remarkable form
The upcoming UCL encounter could not have come at a better time for both sides. Napoli are still unbeaten in the Serie A while Arsenal have shaken off their opening day defeat against Aston Villa in style by pulling together a string of victories that have placed them on top of the Premier League table. And both teams have passed their big tests in the league with flying colours. Napoli beat AC Milan on their own turn while Arsenal won this season’s first North London derby by beating bitter rivals, Tottenham Hotspur 1-0 at home.
The respective UCL campaigns have started brilliantly for both teams as well with Napoli beating last year’s finalists Borussia Dortmund and Arsenal winning against Olympique de Marseille at Stade Velodrome.
In short, the recent run of results suggests that the two teams are very much balanced on paper and are set to showcase a great encounter.
