Newcastle V Benfica: Eddie Howe says Jose Mourinho is a vision

“As a younger coach, I admired the teams he built at Chelsea, especially.

“He is a visionary – someone who breaks the mold in how you manage different ways of doing things, and after his success through different clubs, solid.

“It’s always a great opportunity for any club to go up against one of his teams. I’m looking forward to the challenge and I think it’s going to be a great game.”

Mourinho considers himself “a bit of a magpie” because of his bond with former Newcastle manager Sir Bobby Robson.

The Portuguese was known as Sir Bobby at Sporting Lisbon, Porto and Barcelona as a translator and assistant in the 1990s.

Mourinho has spoken highly of Newcastle over the years and said he “loved” the club before this game.

“I heard Jose’s words about Newcastle and I absolutely echoed them myself,” Howe said.

“They were great words about Sir Bobby and the role he played in his career. It was great to hear, but the line stops tomorrow.

“When the game starts, we want to win. We are desperate for points. This is a competitive game between two famous clubs.”

Newcastle lost 2-1 at Brighton in the Premier League on Saturday and will run into a late check on influential midfielder Sandro Tonali, who is suffering from illness.

“We’ll give him every chance,” Howe said. “He is not there in training today and he is an important player, so we will use all the time we have.”