RAFAEL BENITEZ yesterday called on Jose Mourinho to shake hands and bring an end to the public fall-out between the managerial duo.
Liverpool travel to Stamford Bridge to face Premiership champions Chelsea this Sunday with the build-up once again set to be dominated by the frosty relations between Benitez and Mourinho.
The Portuguese has rarely seen eye-to-eye with his Anfield counterpart ever since Chelsea were eliminated by Liverpool in the semi-finals of the Champions League in 2005.
Mourinho refused to shake hands with Benitez following Chelsea's FA Cup semi-final defeat to Liverpool last April, and the duo again failed to follow the traditional post-match protocol after Liverpool's Community Shield win over the Londoners in Cardiff last month, with both managers hinting the other should have made the first move.
But now Benitez believes the time has come for Mourinho to draw a line under his issues with Liverpool.
"The problem's been that, in the build-up to these games, people are always talking about things that have nothing to do with football and, because we talk about this all the time ahead of these games, I think it's now time to stop speaking about it," said the Liverpool manager.
"If he wants to shake hands, I don't have any problems with that. I will shake his hand. I prefer to talk about football than these small things.
"I'll give to him the opportunity to shake hands if he wants.
"We'll go down there and be his guests on Sunday. At the end of the game, I will wait and see if he offers his hand. If he does, then I'll shake it. Not a problem."
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