Emobot7
7 years ago
Edited
Bravo, bravo! This a great post once again, thank you very much for the share. Was great to read. Really hoping Newcastle get some budget for this winter and manage to stay up and keep on giving good performance. Benitez is under rated as hell, mostly because of his time at Madrid. Also, quite funny to see Mou taking a dig because Rafa won Europa league with Chelsea and then winning it himself and saying its better than finishing in top four. XD
Anyway, a little applause for your effort. ;)
Bravo, bravo! This a great post once again, thank you very much for the share. Was great to read. Really hoping Newcastle get some budget for this winter and manage to stay up and keep on giving good performance. Benitez is under rated as hell, mostly because of his time at Madrid. Also, quite funny to see Mou taking a dig because Rafa won Europa league with Chelsea and then winning it himself and saying its better than finishing in top four. XD
Bravo, bravo! This a great post once again, thank you very much for the share. Was great to read. Really hoping Newcastle get some budget for this winter and manage to stay up and keep on giving good performance. Benitez is under rated as hell, mostly because of his time at Madrid. Also, quite funny to see Mou taking a dig because Rafa won Europa league with Chelsea and then winning it himself and saying its better than finishing in top four. XD
Rafael Benítez ( Newcastle United ), age 57;
The heavy, perfectionist
“When you have a run of games where you keep winning and winning, you know it must end.”
"I asked for a sofa and they bought me a lamp."
"You have to feel sorry for any club who have Rafael Benítez as their manager, goes the old joke, it must cost a fortune to travel all over Europe to those finals."
Born in Madrid, to a mother that fancied Real and a father that adored Atletico he joined the ranks of Real Madrid at the age of 13.
Even as a kid he would spend hours immersed in sessions of the complex tactical board game "Stratego", against his brother, he had an endless desire of planning things ahead of him and predicting the unpredictable, he loved all the board games and soon enough he started to view football the same way:
“Chess is all about controlling the middle of the board… Just like football”
His father still has sketchbooks that Rafa kept from the tender age of 13, full to the brim of comprehensive notes on teammates, tactical analysis and marks out of 10.
On the field, no one could shut him up. “When I played, they said I talked too much but I couldn’t help it,” Benítez admits. “If I saw a problem I tried to correct it.”
On his first date with his now wife Montse he beguiled her with an explanation of the 4-4-2 system, mapping out its particulars on a pizzeria tablecloth.
His playing career didn't last long due to his knee injury and he quickly got involved in what he was born to do, his eternal struggle to control the football field.
Rafa as one of the assistant coaches of Real Madrid, next to Del Bosque:
But life would teach him the ways of the game in all its lights and darkness.
He didn't manage well at the start of his coaching career once he left Real Madrid. Real Valladolid fired him, so did Osasuna. Was he just not meant to be a coach?
When it's the hardest, real saviours emerge!
CF Extremadura, a team that no longer exists needed someone to take them to the promise land, to La Liga...They got Rafa to do the job at the first time of asking...
Extremadura conceded just 38 goals, fewer than one a game over a 42 game season which was the second best defensive record in the league behind the eventual champions, the obsession of Rafa was starting to appear but there was much to be learned, still the first trademark was already obvious - heavy squad rotation.
From the south-west part of Spain Rafa got a new job at CD Tenerife with the same task he by that time knew he could do. But this time he got something even more in return - a strong relationship with his favorites, Mista and Luis García, a start of a beautiful friendship.
"He was like a father to me. He always supported me." - Luis Garcia about Rafa Benitez.
Rafa would re-unite with Mista once he took over Valencia, with Mista becoming the top Valencia scorer, just 5 goals behind Ronaldo in whole La Liga.
The Rafa second trademark - 4-2-3-1 formation
Rafa was always obsessed with details and heavy focusing on his opponents made him a very hard opponent in European cups but he took Valencia to the league title as well.
Benítez is incredibly rigid in his requirements of his midfield duo. Balance here is of the upmost importance – with players predominantly selected based on attributes; so that it exposes no holes or deficiencies throughout the team. The aim is that one of the two should always provide diversity to their midfield partner. Benítez believes that a midfield pairing too similar in attributes and style will quickly become ‘broken’, with the side unable to function in or out of possession. Rafa will therefore look to selects players in the midfielder unit that can provide tactical diversity and maintain balance simultaneously.
UEFA Cup glory came right before he would resign because of not agreeing with the clubs director about the type of transfers Valencia needed, and thus his time with Los Murciélagos ended.
One of those that will never walk alone - Rafa joins Liverpool
Finding the balance became even harder, but Benitez was willing to learn as much as he wanted to feel control and security over the playing field, over the years it's evident how much Rafa was into the never-ending chess game he played in his head:
“Our working relationship was ultra-professional and his frostiness drove me to become a better player. I had a hunger to earn a compliment from him — but also a hunger to let him know he really needed me as a player. We were like fire and ice. Passion surged inside me, while Rafa was the strategic thinker.” - Steven Gerrard about Rafa
Fernando Torres wrote in his book that after he had scored twice in Liverpool's 2-0 win over Chelsea in February 2009, he was tying up his boots ready to head out to the training pitch. The weekend papers had been full of stories about Torres being set to become a father and he takes up the story:
"Congratulations, Fernando," Rafa says. "Thanks, boss,"I reply. I assumed he was congratulating me on the pregnancy and I paused, expecting the obvious next question. I was wrong. "Just as we'd anticipated, attacking the near post really paid off yesterday,"he said. "You got ahead of the defender into that space we talked about, which gave you an advantage and allowed you to [score] with a header."
"With Rafa Benitez I learned a lot. He is a coach who is very meticulous and who can identify small but very important details that no-one else sees to enable you to score. I worked with him a lot individually and I think we saw the benefit of this on the pitch". - Torres
Some rivalries were bound to happen on the way -
"We were good friends until Liverpool started winning, then he started changing his mind" - Rafa about Mourinho
"It would be a big disappointment for me. I don't want my players to feel the Europa League is our competition." - Mourinho after Benitez won Europa League with Chelsea
Overall one of the most influential managers out there, he once again proved his worth by taking Newcastle back to the Premier League, and his story continues:
No matter what, he will always that that magical night in Istanbul:
Respect to what he did manage to do in Milano and Napoli:
And Rafa will always be a part of Liverpool, even if not working there:
Respect to one of the bosses that gets things done