Newcastle United boss Rafa Benitez has dismissed the value of mind games ahead of their clash with Manchester United.

Benitez has long had a tense rivalry with United boss Jose Mourinho.

"For you (the press), the mind games are more important," he said.

"For me, it was preparation of the games. I was not worried about the mind games, I was worried about my team.

"If you win the game, the assumption is that you are winning the mind games. That is not always the case, sometimes your team is better and that is it.

"So you can lose the mind games and you can win the game, it is sometimes like this."

But when asked if he and Mourinho were now friends, Benitez, pointedly, said: "My concern is my team and doing all the things I need to do to win games."