Rafael Benítez

Rafael Benítez

Benitez during Liverpool's match at Manchester City, April 2007
Personal information
Full name	Rafael Benítez Maudes
Height	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Position(s)	Midfielder (retired)
Team information
Current team	Liverpool (manager)

Rafael Benítez Maudes (born April 16 1960 in Madrid, Spain), also referred to as Rafa Benítez, is a former Spanish footballer and current manager. Since June 2004 he has managed Liverpool. He has previously managed Valencia CF and five other La Liga teams. Benítez became the most successful Valencia CF manager in their history after just three seasons in charge. In 2002, he led the club to their first La Liga title since 1971, and in 2004 he led the club to a La Liga/UEFA Cup double. In 2005 he guided Liverpool to victory in the UEFA Champions League and the European Super Cup and in 2006 he led them to victory in the FA Cup and the FA Community Shield. HE IS FAT

Benítez became only the third manager, after Bob Paisley and José Mourinho, to win the UEFA Cup and UEFA Champions League in successive seasons. He is also the first manager to achieve this with two different clubs. He became the second Liverpool manager, after Joe Fagan, to win the European Cup/UEFA Champions League in his first season in charge. Throughout his career Benítez has also won several individual awards. He was awarded Manager Of the Year titles by both Don Balón and El País in 2002 while at Valencia CF and was named Madrid Coach of the Year for 2005 by Seven Stars Sport.

Valencia CF

2001–02 - Champions of Spain

In 2001 Benítez was appointed coach of Valencia CF, replacing Hector Cuper. The club had previously approached Javier Irureta, Mané and Luis Aragonés and had been turned down by all three. However the club director Javier Subirats recognised the potential of Benítez and campaigned for his appointment. Despite the loss of both Gaizka Mendieta and Claudio López, he inherited from Cuper a team brimming with potential. Santiago Cañizares, Roberto Ayala, Rubén Baraja, David Albelda and Pablo Aimar provided the backbone of an already formidable but underachieving side.

Valencia CF fans were soon won over by Benítez as he introduced a more attacking style of play. He also made good use of both Mista and Curro Torres and Mista went on to become top goalscorer for Valencia CF with 19 goals in the 2003–04 season and Curro Torres became an established international. In 2002,these tactics saw Benítez lead Valencia CF to their first La Liga title in thirty one years, winning it by a seven point margin over second placed Deportivo de La Coruña.

However the following season 2002–03 was a disappointing one as the club failed to follow up on their title success, they finished only fifth in La Liga, eighteen points behind Champions Real Madrid. The season saw Benítez make his debut in the UEFA Champions League. Valencia CF reached the quarter-finals before losing to Inter Milan.

2003–04 - La Liga/UEFA Cup double

The 2003–04 season was a different story. Valencia CF won La Liga with three games to go and beat Olympique de Marseille 2–0 in the UEFA Cup final. Despite this success, Benítez fell out with Jesus Garcia Pitarch, the club's director of sport, over control of new signings and the club's failure to reinforce the squad with the players he wanted. These differences of opinion saw Benítez resign as Valencia CF coach in June 2004. He famously said "I asked for a table and they bought me a lampshade" in reference to the players he wanted the club to sign.

Liverpool

2004–05 - Champions of Europe

Liverpool were quick to take advantage of the disharmony at Valencia CF and Benítez was appointed manager of the English Premiership club on June 16 2004. Arriving at Liverpool, he found himself in a very similar position to the one he had found at Valencia CF. The club had a talented but underperforming squad that included, among others, Michael Owen, Steven Gerrard, Jamie Carragher, Dietmar Hamann, Harry Kewell, Steve Finnan and Sami Hyypiä.

Benítez had barely arrived at Liverpool when Michael Owen was sold to Real Madrid. He subsequently signed several players from La Liga, most notably Luis García and Xabi Alonso. During his first season Benítez failed to improve the club's form in the Premiership. Key players such as Steven Gerrard, Milan Baroš, Djibril Cissé, Xabi Alonso and Dietmar Hamann missed much of the season through injury and Liverpool failed to challenge Chelsea and Arsenal for the league title. They eventually finished fifth. However, they did reach the Carling Cup final against Chelsea at the Millennium Stadium but Liverpool lost 3–2 after extra time.

In the UEFA Champions League it was very different, despite a poor start. Liverpool began their campaign with an unimpressive 2–1 aggregate win over Grazer AK in the qualifying rounds and were minutes away from going out of the competition in the group stages before an 87th minute goal by Gerrard defeated Olympiakos 3–1 and saw the club progress to the last sixteen. Bayer Leverkusen were beaten 3–1 home and away followed by Juventus who were beaten 2–1 on aggregate.

In the semi-final Liverpool faced Chelsea, runaway leaders in the Premiership and favourites to win after overcoming the highly rated FC Barcelona in a previous round. Chelsea had already beaten Liverpool in the League Cup final and twice in the Premiership. After a goalless leg at Stamford Bridge, an early goal from Luis García saw Liverpool win 1–0 on aggregate and reach the final against AC Milan. In a classic final, Liverpool came from 3–0 down at half-time to level the score at 3–3 and eventually won on penalties with the assistance of Jerzy Dudek, giving Liverpool an historic fifth European Cup.

2005–06 - FA Cup winners

For the 2005–06 season Benítez further reinforced the Liverpool squad by signing Peter Crouch, Mohamed Sissoko, José "Pepe" Reina, Boudewijn Zenden and Daniel Agger, as well as former Liverpool player (and fan favourite) Robbie Fowler in the January transfer window.

It is notable that Dudek's heroics in the Champions league final were not enough for him to stay as first choice keeper, as Reina replaced him in goal right away. Benitez also quickly discarded unlikely heroes Vladimír Šmicer and Igor Biscan, who played key roles in the European success but seemingly did not figure in Benítez' long-term plans. Benitez also quickly sold two of his first signings in English football, Josemi and Antonio Núñez after they failed to establish themselves. This is an example of what some many see as Benítez' ruthlessness.

The improvements saw the club's Premiership form improve considerably. Liverpool finished third in the league, qualifying for the UEFA Champions League and only narrowly missed out on second place by 1 point. Liverpool also won the FA Cup beating both Manchester United and Chelsea on the way to the final against West Ham Utd. History repeated itself in the final as they then went on to lift the trophy after a penalty shoot-out, following a dramatic 3-3 draw. Liverpool came from 2–0 down and were losing 3–2 in stoppage time when Steven Gerrard scored a dramatic late equalizer. This time Pepe Reina saved three penalties during the shoot-out to secure the silverware.

In winning the FA Cup 'Rafa' became the only manager in the history of Liverpool Football Club to win major trophies in both of his first two seasons at the club.

2006–07 - Another European Cup Final

Benitez's Liverpool claimed the first domestic honours of the 2006–07 season with a 2–1 victory over Chelsea in the Community Shield, despite fielding a weakened side with Gerrard and Alonso on the substitutes bench. The English Press were predicting Liverpool would challenge Chelsea for the Premiership crown after Benitez addressed Liverpool's perceived weaknesses in the transfer window by signing striker Craig Bellamy as well as wingers Jermaine Pennant and Mark Gonzalez.

Although Liverpool had qualified for the knockout stage of the UEFA Champions League with two games to spare (a new record for the club), and then going on to win the group with one game still left, Benitez's future at the Liverpool was called into question after poor away results in the league: his agent was quoted as saying he would consider offers to manage in Italy. Benitez swiftly issued a statement through the club's website re-affirming his desire to remain with Liverpool for the long term.

Although the team's league results improved, their defence of the FA Cup lasted just one game as they were knocked out by Arsenal at Anfield; and four days later they were knocked out of the League Cup, also by Arsenal losing 6–3 at Anfield, Liverpool's heaviest home defeat since 1913. However this was soon forgotten when Liverpool beat Chelsea 2–0 at Anfield, Benitez's first league victory over Jose Mourinho's side. At the end of the league campaign, Liverpool were on 68 points, beating Arsenal to third place on goal difference but their poor away form had prevented the title challenge many were expecting - they did not win away in the League until December.

Liverpool's 2006–07 Champions League campaign proved successful. Liverpool finished top of Group C in the group stages after beating Maccabi Haifa in the 3rd qualifying round. They were then drawn against defending champions FC Barcelona in the first round of the knockout stages. Benitez' side did not have ideal preparations with a reported altercation between Liverpool players Craig Bellamy and John Arne Riise days before the winning the first leg 2-1 at Camp Nou. This was seen as a major test of Benitez' man-management at the time and he subsequently fined both players. Remarkably, Riise and Bellamy combined to score the second goal of a 2–1 victory in the first leg and Liverpool held Barca to just one goal in a 0–1 loss in the return at Anfield, thus progressing on the away goals rule. In preparation for the second game, Barca's Dutch coach Frank Rijkaard described Liverpool's style of play: "The style Liverpool have - quite physical and tactically disciplined - once you have seen a couple of their games you know how they play."

In the quarter-finals, Liverpool achieved a 3–0 first leg lead over PSV Eindhoven, before sealing their place in the semi-finals with a 1–0 win at Anfield with Benitez resting several key players including Gerrard.

In the first match of the semi-final against Chelsea, Liverpool lost 1–0 at Chelsea, but won the return leg 1–0, and then ultimately winning 4–1 in a penalty shoot-out after extra time. After the game, Liverpool's new co-owner George Gillett said: "Rafa has been tremendous ... We knew of him but I don't think we realized how good he was, and not just as a coach. Not only was he a brilliant coach but he is a very sharp, savvy businessman. He knows what he wants and how to get it. The more we have seen of him the more impressed we have become." During the penalty shoot out, Rafa was noted for sitting down cross-legged in his technical area. He later explained that it was because fans were complaining that they couldn't see.

Liverpool contended with AC Milan for their sixth European Cup in Athens, Greece on May 23, 2007, in a repeat of the 2005 final but lost 2–1, after two goals by Filippo Inzaghi. Dirk Kuyt's late consolation goal from a header off Jermaine Pennant's corner was in vain, as Milan held on to win the game. Following the defeat Benitez insisted his club's new owners had to back him in the transfer market in order for Liverpool to progress. It was reported Benitez did not feel he had the complete support of the new owners, a thought that was compounded by Liverpool's initial lack of activity in the transfer window, although the club played these rumours down.

During the season, Benitez continued to develop the youth team, bringing in players such as Emiliano Insua, Sebastián Leto and Jordy Brouwer. The scouting programme had already successfully captured the likes of Daniel Agger, Mark González, Gabriel Paletta, Fábio Aurélio, Scott Carson, Miquel Roque, Godwin Antwi, Astrit Ajdarevic, Paul Anderson and Nabil El Zhar.

2007–08 - Cash flow and crisis

Liverpool's new owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett provided Benítez with additional transfer funds for the new season to attempt to bridge the gap to Premiership rivals Manchester United and Chelsea, but in fact Hicks and Gillett just used money the club generated itself through additional television revenues and the prize money from getting to the Champions League final, without dipping into their own pockets. Benítez broke Liverpool's transfer record when signing Spanish striker Fernando Torres from Atletico Madrid as well as signing young Dutch forward Ryan Babel, West Ham attacking midfielder Yossi Benayoun, Brazilian player of the year Lucas Leiva and Andriy Voronin on Bosman. During the pre-season he also invested in a number of young foreign players such as Bulgarian under-21 goalkeeper Nikolay Mihaylov, Australian Dean Bouzanis Hungarian starlets Krisztian Nemeth, Andras Simon, Peter Gulacsi and poached young superstars Dani Pacheco and Gerardo Bruna from Barcelona and Real Madrid respectively. Charles Itandje was signed as cover for Pepe Reina after Scott Carson was reluctantly loaned to Aston Villa for the season.

Benítez released several players in the summer, including fan-favourites Robbie Fowler, Luis García and Jerzy Dudek as well as Djibril Cissé and Craig Bellamy. Benitez also tried to sign left-back Gabriel Heinze from Manchester United, however on August 21 2007 an FA panel ruled that Manchester United were under no obligation to sell Heinze to a rival club.

Liverpool made a good start to the new league season and remained unbeaten at the end of November, having topped the Premier League table for the first time under Benitez after a comprehensive 6–0 win over Derby County. Despite this, poor results in the Champions League and a disagreement over future transfers lead to a public falling-out with the club's owners, played out in the media at the end of November and it was suggested that Benitez's position was now under serious threat. The resulting coverage resulted in an overwhelming show of support by fans in support of Benitez which culminated in a fans' march in support of Benitez ahead of the critical Champions League home tie with Porto, which they won 4–1. It has since emerged that at the time Jürgen Klinsmann was offered the Liverpool job before accepting the post of Bayern Munich manager and numerous sources have linked Benitez to Real Madrid.

Honours

Liverpool FC

• UEFA Champions League
  • Winners 2004-05: 1
  • Runners Up 2006-07: 1
• European Super Cup
  • Winners 2005 1
• FA Cup
  • Winners 2006 1
• FA Community Shield
  • Winners 2006 1
• Carling Cup
  • Runners Up 2005 1
• FIFA Club World Championship
  • Runners Up 2005 1

Valencia CF

• Spanish Champions: 2
  • 2001-02, 2003-04
• UEFA Cup: 1
  • 2003-04

CD Tenerife

• Segunda División
  • Third and promotion 2000-01

CF Extremadura

• Segunda División
  • Runners-Up 1997-98

Real Madrid U-19s

• Spain U-19 League: 2
  • 1993
• Spain U-19 Cup: 2
  • 1991, 1993

See also

• List of UEFA Cup winning managers

External links

Biographies

• Liverpool FC Official Website profile
• Rafalution - Rafa Benítez fansite
• Manager profile at LFChistory.net
• Manager profile at This Is Anfield

Statistics

• Rafael Benítez management career statistics at Soccerbase
• La Liga manager stats at www.lfp.es
• Segunda División manager stats at www.lfp.es

Valencia CF

• 2001-02
• 2002-03
• 2003-04

Awards

• Spanish football awards

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